The Pampanga Press Club (PPC) recently met with newly elected 3rd District Congressman Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales at the Fort Stotsenberg Hotel, where he expressed full support to the development of Clark International Airport.
Gonzales assured members of PPC that he will talk to the members of the Central Luzon bloc of congressmen to support moves to develop Clark airport which has been “neglected” for the past several years.
It’s about time for Pampanga solons to take this initiative to a whole new level as the country needs an alternate international gateway to decongest the clogged Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila.
Cong Dong is now part of the new administration and in the position to lobby for the development of Clark airport. I hope and pray that he will fulfill his program for the airport.
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President Rodrigo Duterte recently made directives to Department of Transportation Secretary Art Tugade to prioritize the Clark and NAIA connections as among of the solutions to decongest Metro Manila. Building a road network leading to Clark is also a welcome development that will improve connectivity.
This will also attract more investments not only in Clark but the rest of Central and Northern Luzon. Airlines will also take a closer look at Clark airport or will consider mounting additional routes once the connectivity problem is addressed.
At present, Clark has only Qatar Airways, Emirates Airlines with Middle East flights daily to Doha and Dubai. Cebu Pacific has Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, Dragonair has Hong Kong, while Asiana Airlines and Jin Air have Incheon and Pusan flights.
Only Cebu Pacific has domestic flights to Cebu four times weekly, but these are not enough. Government should consider putting more domestic operations at Clark.
With the new administration at the helm, there is indeed a new hope for Clark airport and that it will be a brighter one.