CLARK FREEPORT – Some 22 percent of Central and Northern Luzon folk who flew to international and domestic destinations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) from January to May this year were not even aware of flights at the Clark International Airport (Clark airport) here.
This was among the results of a survey finished recently by the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) in its bid to lure more passengers from Regions 1, 2, 3 and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) to use Clark airport. The survey referred to the regions as Clark’s “catchment area”, as against NAIA’s catchment area covering the National Capital Region (NCR) and Regions 4 and 5.
The report was presented by CIAC during a recent hearing held here by the House committee on transportation chaired by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento to tackle the proposed full development of Clark airport as premiere gateway amid some P1.2 billion budget for the airport in 2015.
The survey said that from January to May this year, NAIA had 15,199,000 passengers and that of this number, 2,397,000 were from Clark airport’s catchment area. It also noted that 41 percent of passengers at NAIA flew to destinations also reached by flights available at Clark.
The survey also noted that of those who came from Clark’s catchment area, 78 percent knew that Clark airport was operating international and domestic flights, while 22 percent knew nothing at all about Clark airport’s flights.
From last January to May, the Clark airport recorded 569,000 passengers. CIAC President-CEO Victor Jose Luciano said this is the reason why and members of his staff have been holding “roadshow” campaigns in various regions, the latest being in Pangasinan, to make people aware that they could take their flights from Clark instead of NAIA which, he noted, is farther and traffic-congested.
The survey also noted that majority of Clark’s passengers, or from 35 to 39 percent, are from Pampanga. Records showed that Clark’s passengers totaled 1,315,757 in 2012 and that this slightly decreased to 1,200,594 in 2013.
Clark airport’s existing passenger terminal can accommodate a total of 4.5 million passengers per year. NAIA passengers were also interviewed on why they opted to fly via NAIA. Some 36 percent of them cited availability of flights to their destinations, 34 percent cited airport accessibility, 21 percent flight schedule, six percent travel cost, and four percent promo air fare.
The survey also said that 88 percent from Clark’s catchment area who took flights at NAIA said they would opt for Clark should there be more convenient flight schedules at the airport here.
