“Isa pang kinukulit namin sa ating national government ay magkaroon nga po ng isang maliwanag at malinaw na polisiya tungkol po sa Clark (One thing that we keep on asking the national government is to have a clear-cut policy regarding Clark),” Tanjuatco said during the 8 to 9 a.m. radio program “Tapatan” aired over station gvAM 792 here last Wednesday.
“I’ve been in CIAC for almost 10 months now and in all of those 10 months, I’ve spoken to a number of airlines. It’s hard to persuade them.
It’s even harder than wooing women,” Tanjuatco said.
“One of their questions is: What is the policy of the national government on Clark? Sadly, there is none,” he added.
“How can airlines then invest their equipment, manpower and logistics in Clark worth millions of dollars if there is no clear policy from the national government?” he asked.
The truth is airlines would rather go to Manila even if it’s congested because there is a clear government policy there, he added.
Tanjuatco said “there should be a shift of the national government paradigm or plan on Clark and come out with a definite and express policy” in order to entice airlines.
That explains the lack of flights at Clark, he said.
“Bakit ako mag i-invest sa Clark? Doon na lang ako sa Manila na mas malinaw ang policy kahit makipagsiksikan ako (Why should I invest in Clark? I would rather go to Manila where there is a clear policy even if airlines are crowding each other),” he said.
“That’s why we keep on asking the national government to come out with a clear policy,” he added.
Dual airport system
Tanjuatco said he is not against the dual airport system of Ninoy Aquino International Airport and CIA. This is because Clark airport is not competing with NAIA, he said.
Tanjuatco explained that Clark has its own catchment area with the combined population of northern and central Luzon at 22 million while the population of the National Capital Region (NCR) and Calabarzon (Region IV-A) has its own catchment with about 24 million combined population.
He explained that in a period of one year, there are about six million passengers coming from Clark’s catchment area and five million of that fly out from NAIA because Clark has no flights.
Tanjuatco said CIAC conducted a survey and market study with the question: if there are flights in Clark which would you prefer NAIA or CIA?
“Ang sabi po nila lahat kami lilipad ng Clark (All of them said we will fly out from Clark). So in a sense we can exist even without NAIA or even without the spill over from NAIA,” he reasoned.
Railway system
Tanjuatco said the proposed railway system connecting Manila and Clark is good but a railway system connecting Clark to the rest of northern and central Luzon is much better.
He said the Manila- Clark railway will give passengers a choice whether NAIA or Clark. But passengers from Southern Luzon like Bicol would naturally prefer NAIA because it’s closer to them. A passenger from Bicol would ride the train to Clark because that’s his choice, he said.
However, a railway system connecting Clark to the north like Baguio City, Pangasinan, La Union or Ilocos would be better because it will lend connectivity to the catchment area of Clark.
“It still takes around 2 to 3 hours to reach Clark from the north but if we have a railway system, the travel time is much faster and it can even be an attraction to the airlines because it now becomes part of the connectivity of the CIA to the north because at present it is only land travel through the SCTEx and TIPLEx,” he explained.
Big loss
Tanjuatco admitted that the transfer of Air Asia Philippines and Emirates Airlines to NAIA was a big loss to the CIA.
“Ang talagang malaking kawalan ng paliparan po ay ang (paglipat sa NAIA ng) Emirates at ang Air Asia (The real big loss to the airport is the transfer to NAIA of Emirates and Air Asia),” he admitted.
“Yung Air Asia nung pumasok sa Clark ang nililipad po nila (The Air Asia when it came in Clark they fly both) international and domestic. Air Asia Berhad bought Zest Air, a budget airlines based in Manila, and formed Air Asia Zest which necessitates that they move their operations to Manila because that is where Zest is based which they rehabilitated that is why they left Clark,” he explained.
But after one year Air Asia Berhad returned to Clark with their Kuala Lumpur flights, he added.
“Patuloy po ang pakikipag usap namin sa Air Asia at sabi naman po nila eventually ibabalik ang domestic operations nila in Clark at inaayos lang po nila ang operations ng Zest Air na kailangan daw nilang matutukan sa Manila (our talks with Air Asia are continuing and they said eventually they will bring back their domestic flights in Clark, it’s just that they are still fixing the operations of Zest Air which they need to do and follow up in Manila),” he explained further.
But Tanjutaco was still at a loss on the real reason why Emirates left CIA after only seven months of operations.
He admitted that there are many theories why Emirates left like the surcharge on fuel, low load, etc.
The surcharge issue was addressed because of the decision of the Supreme Court on this but if you look at the other airlines flying to Clark, they are also paying the same surcharge, Tanjuatco pointed out.
On the low load as a factor, he said when Emirates left Clark, their load is high since they were hitting around 75 to 80 percent which is not bad.
“We heard that maybe it’s an internal issue with Emirates… we don’t know but we are continuing with our talks with them,” he assured.
Tapatan helps
Tanjuatco commended the radio program “Tapatan” saying it helps in informing the public and makes them aware of the current issues.
“This creates an indirect pressure on government to act on our concerns on Clark,” he added.
