Clark Int’l Airport Expects Year’s 1 Millionth Passenger This Week

Manila Bulletin
October 23, 2012

The Clark International Airport expects its landmark one millionth passenger this week, attained even before yearend, Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) President and CEO Victor Jose I. Luciano said yesterday.

“This is another milestone for the Clark International Airport as we have achieved for the first time an unprecedented one million passengers in just 10 months of 2012,” said Luciano.

On June 29, 2007, the Clark airport received its first one-million passengers after four years of operations that started in November 2003. The one-millionth passenger was Korean national Lee Eun Hee, a 35-year-old computer programmer that arrived at the Clark airport aboard an Asiana Airlines flight from Incheon, South Korea.

Luciano said the Clark International Airport is on its way to attaining close to 1.4 million passengers by the end of 2012 due to the increase in the number of both international and domestic flights.

The CIAC chief pointed out that seven budget carriers currently operate on a 24-hour basis at the Clark International Airport, the most number of budget carriers compared to other airports in the country.

Budget carriers operating at the Clark International Airport are Air Asia Philippines, Air Asia Berhad of Malaysia, Cebu Pacific Air, South East Asian Airlines (Seair) in partnership with Tiger Airways of Singapore, Jin Air and Airphil Express while full-service carriers include Asiana Airlines of South Korea, and Hong Kong based Dragonair.

The airport is now bustling with 296 aircraft movements per week and is expected to increase further as Zest Airways is slated to launch daily international flights from Clark to Incheon, South Korea later this month.

SIA Engineering Philippines is also set to ground-break their two hangars by December 2012 in a bid to boost their maintenance repair aircraft operations at the Clark Civil Aviation Complex. The two additional maintenance repair and overhaul facilities will accomodate twin-aisle aircraft such as B747 and B777. The first hangar was established in 2009 catering Airbus320s. SIA Engineering is a joint venture project with Cebu Pacific Air.

On June 5, 2012, Hong Kong based aviation company Metrojet Engineering inaugurated their $40 million Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in a three hectare land inside the aviation complex. Metrojet is the leading business jet operator in Asia committed to providing 6-star service to its clients by offering a complete range of business aviation services including aircraft charter, aircraft management, aircraft maintenance, aircraft co-ownership programs and acquisition and sales.

Luciano had earlier proposed to the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) the setup of a Budget Terminal that would initially accommodate close to 10 million passengers annually. The proposed Budget Terminal is similar to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.