Philippine Airlines (PAL) Flight No. 2371 bound for Caticlan, Aklan has blazed the trail for the advent of more domestic and international flights at the Clark International Airport.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) President and CEO Alexander Cauguiran graced the inaugural send-off ceremony for the first PAL flight out of the Clark airport.
PAL will also launch flights to Cebu, Davao and Incheon, South Korea, its first international flight from Clark airport in the first quarter of 2017.
PAL’s entry in Clark is seen to further develop the viability of Clark airport as the next international airport of the country. This, as conglomerates intend to develop new international airports in either Bulacan province or Sangley Point in Cavite City.
Other top firms prefer to join the bidding for the P74.6 billion upgrade of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. These conglomerates are the Ayala Corporation, Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV), Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) of business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan and Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp (AEDC) of Lucio Tan.
Business leaders in Pampanga said Clark airport is the best choice of the government as the next international airport of the Philippines because of the presence of two 3.2-km parallel runways. The US designed runways can accommodate the biggest aircraft in the world.
President Rodrigo Duterte has earlier urged local airlines to transfer some of their flights to the Clark airport in a bid to ease air traffic at the NAIA. The past administrations have failed to entice PAL to locate in Clark.
PAL president Jaime Bautista said PAL supports the government’s plan to decongestion the NAIA, which posted more than 37 million passengers in 2015.
“This is also a venue for Philippine Airlines to grow. If we will just depend on the available capacity of Naia, we cannot grow much anymore.”
The heavy air traffic in Manila prompts pilots to encircle Metro Manila as they await clearance to land burning more aviation fuel in the process.
At least 27 percent of the passengers that flew out of the NAIA also emanated from Northern and Central Luzon. The availability of more domestic and international flights will increase viability of the Clark airport, according to businessmen.