Thus, said Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) president and CEO Vivencio “Vince” Dizon during the Clark Stakeholders Roadshow at the Royce Hotel here on Wednesday.
Dizon made the comment after narrating the experience of Clark Development Corp. (CDC) director Frankie Villanueva who left for Boracay via Clark airport on a 10:30 a.m. flight to Caticlan airport and arriving in Boracay just in time for lunch as compared before when travelers from Pampanga take about a day to get to Boracay via the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila.
“This is all happening now and many more will follow,” Dizon said bannering the government’s infrastructure development under the “Build, Build, Build Mantra” of the Duterte administration.
Push for P2.89-B
Cauguiran said the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) is pushing for the release of the P2.89 billion airport funds so that plans for the development of the Clark International Airport (CIA) will materialize as the number of flights and passengers have increased.
Cauguiran said management is “working double time” for the download of the first tranche of the P2.89 billion funds from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) which, he added, is a major step for the CIA to adapt as the number of travelers has increased.
“We are only in the first quarter of this year and the additional flights people are enjoying now have improved from three to five years ago which signify positive things to come for the premier airport of the North,” Cauguiran said.
The CIAC chief said the CIA in 2016 logged in a total of 6,205 international and domestic flights with 950,732 passengers for local and foreign routes. The numbers are expected to increase this year as more airlines are mounting flights at CIA and possibly including routes to North America, he added.
“CIAC management is focused on hitting its target on time. Once CIAC receives the downloaded funds from the DOTr, management will immediately conduct procurement of the detailed engineering and design (DED) consultants for the bid out and award of contract to implement horizontal civil works projects for the new terminal building,” Cauguiran said.
The process of bid and award of contract, except for unforeseen obstacles, may be completed by the third quarter of this year, Cauguiran added.
During his turn at the podium, Cauguiran announced the construction of the new Clark airport terminal―the first of four design phases― for domestic and international passengers with an 8-million-visitor capacity that will be finished before the term of President Rodrigo Duterte ends.
This is also part of the Duterte administration’s Build, Build, Build Mantra on infrastructure development in the next five-and-a-half years.
“As always, due diligence results to an outcome most favorable to the government and along with (DOTr) Secretary Art Tugade and President Vince Dizon of BCDA, we are revalidating all aspects required for the new airport terminal project,” Cauguiran said.
The new Clark airport terminal, situated in the 2,367-hectare Clark Civil Aviation Complex, is designed by the French firm Aéroports de Paris, Inc. and occupies 82,000 square meters with a capacity of eight million passengers which may be later expanded to accommodate a total of 16 million passengers.
Airlines operating at the CIA now include Air Asia which will launch thrice weekly Clark-Kalibo flights starting March 27 and four times weekly flights to and from Davao by April 22, two routes that are expected to further boost CIA’s passenger traffic.
Philippine Airlines has domestic flights to Caticlan, Cebu, Davao, and international flights via Incheon in South Korea, along with a Palawan route via Puerto Princesa and Busuanga by March 26.
The airport of the North hosts other airlines such as Emirates Airlines via Dubai, Qatar Airways via Doha, Asiana Airlines via Incheon, Jin Air via Incheon and Busan, Cebu Pacific Air via Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and domestic flights to Cebu, along with Cathay Dragon via Hong Kong and Tiger Air via Singapore.
International cargo service giants FedEx and UPS also mount a weekly average of 23 international and domestic cargo flights at CIA.
