MORE THAN one million passengers travelled via Clark International Airport (International Code: CRK) from January 1 to March 31, the airport’s highest number in quarterly passenger traffic.
Jaime Melo, president of Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), said the CRK tallied a total of 1,019,671 passengers during the first quarter from both international and domestic flights.
“Six years ago, it was a record number if you hit the one million passenger mark in a year. CRK had 1.3 million and 1.2 million passengers in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Now, we broke that mark in just three months, so far the highest quarterly figure in the airport’s 24-year history,” Melo said.
Last January, there were a total of 364,171 passengers who traveled via Clark, the highest count of passengers in one month.
“More travelers choose Clark because of congestion in Metro Manila. There are also improvements of terminal facilities here (at CRK) and a more focused and precise operational direction from CIAC management,” Melo said.
Revenues have also increased commensurately, a huge improvement from three to five years ago with more airlines signifying to mount flights, the CIAC executive added.
The surge in CRK numbers is largely attributed to the support of the Duterte administration and the leadership of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, who, in 2016, led officials in urging local carriers to move some of their operations to Clark.
The airport chief said the current CRK terminal’s capacity is at 4.2 million passengers. With a monthly average of 340,000 travelers, CIAC will be able to breach the four million passenger mark by the year’s end, he added.
A new terminal building will be operational by 2020 and able to accommodate an additional 8 million passengers per annum.
CRK’s international destinations include Doha and Dubai in the Middle East, South Korea, Osaka, Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Singapore and soon in Narita, while negotiations are ongoing for airlines to mount Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur flights, among others.
The airport is also connected to major domestic destinations including Cebu, Boracay, Bacolod, Davao and Palawan.
The average daily passenger volume at the CRK is 11,500 and served by a total of 734 weekly flights, with 246 international and 488 domestic flights.
