AS PREMIER AIRPORT
    Gibo backs DMIA dev’t

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    CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Lakas-Kampi-CMD presidential contender Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro said he will pursue the development of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) as the country’s premier airport.

    Teodoro made the announcement during his campaign sortie in Barangay Maimpis, here on Wednesday. He was accompanied by senatorial bets Bebot Bello and Rey Langit, a native Kapampangan, gubernatorial bet Lilia “Nanay” Pineda and political luminaries in Pampanga province.

    Teodoro said the “fullest potential of DMIA should be developed” because this will bring in more development to the countryside.”

    The government will develop DMIA “as a premier airport,” said Teodoro. “You cannot do with only one airport. You have to have several.”

    The Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard bearer however said that the government will continue to use the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport. “We will have to use it (NAIA) alongside with Clark. Clark alone kulang pa iyon.”

    Neighboring Asian countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong have built their new airports in vast tracts of reclaimed land. Both countries are now the leaders in airport and logistics services in Asia.

    Teodoro and his partymates said that they will sustain the development that had been undertaken by the Arroyo administration in Central Luzon.

    The Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) has already embarked on the expansion of the existing DMIA Terminal 1. Some P308 million had been infused in the Phase 1 Expansion Project of the Clark airport which is expected to be finished this month.

    The expansion of DMIA Terminal 1 will accommodate an additional 500,000 passengers annually. The passenger capacity of the current DMIA Terminal 1 is about 2 million annually. 

    The new two-storey DMIA Terminal 1 will have two Aero Bridges, Flight Information Display, Close Circuit Television, Background Music, Public Address System, X-Ray Machines, Escalators and Elevators.

    President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has designated DMIA as the Premier International Gateway of the country as part of her vision to develop a world-class logistics and services hub in the Asia Pacific Region.

    The expansion also paved the way for the installation of additional immigration counters, airlines offices, concessionaires area, and five airline ticketing offices, baggage conveyors and among others.

    DMIA plays host to foreign and local carriers such as Tiger Airways of Singapore that flies Clark-Singapore, Air Asia of Malaysia via Clark-Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, Asiana Airlines via Clark-Incheon in South Korea with connecting flights to the US, China and Japan, Cebu Pacific Air via Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Macau while South East Asian Airlines (Seair) via Clark-Caticlan at the world famous Boracay Beach Island Resort.

    Other carriers include Spirit of Manila Airlines via Clark-Taiwan and Jin Air a subsidiary of Korean Air with chartered flights to Incheon in South Korea.

    The DMIA is now posting around 600,000 passengers annually and the number is expected to increase once the expansion of the existing DMIA Terminal is done.

    CIAC President and CEO Victor I. Luciano in a message to business leaders at the Asian Institute of Management said the development of DMIA into the country’s premier airport “will happen.”

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