CIAC to bid out P300-million Clark airport terminal expansion

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines  – Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president and chief executive officer Victor Jose Luciano said his state-firm will bid out in January next year the completion of facilities on the ground floor of the new passenger terminal expansion at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here.

The facilities on the ground floor of the new building extension, which was inaugurated by former President Gloria Arroyo last June before she stepped down from office, has been estimated to cost about P300 million more, Luciano said in a press briefing yesterday.

“The facilities would be for additional check-in counters and pre-departure area,” he said.

The two-story terminal expansion was expected to boost DMIA’s capacity to handle 600,000 more passengers yearly. The present capacity of the airport is for two million passengers annually.

The expanded passenger terminal features two already completed passenger boarding bridges, two escalators, two elevators, concession areas, two VIP lounge areas, X-ray walk through machine, flight information display system (FIDS), closed circuit television, background and music and public address system, centralized airconditioning system and building maintenance system, said DMIA executive vice president Alex Cauguiran.

 “From just 20,000 passengers two years ago, passengers at DMIA have increased to over 600,000 and this now increases by about 10 percent annually,” Cauguiran said, as he noted that this projection could even be surpassed once the government adopts ‘open skies’ in the country.

Luciano said, however, that the completed parts of the terminal expansion have not yet been operational since Arroyo inaugurated it last June, because some personnel are still being trained on how to operate the two aerobridges.

 “It’s really a sensitive thing because any error in this area could damage the door of an aircraft and this could cost us millions,” he noted.

Luciano described the coming year as “critical” for DMIA, as its transformation into a major international gateway could finally be achieved once plans of SeaAir and Air Asia materialize here. The two airlines plan to establish hubs here in 2010.

“As many as 20 passenger aircraft would be parked at DMIA at any one time,” he said.

Luciano also noted that Singapore Airlines Engineering Company (SIAEC) will construct here its second aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hanger to cost about P1 billion to provide services for the Boeing 747 and 777 aircraft.

In November 2008, SIAEC, together with its joint venture partner Cebu Pacific Air, constructed its first hangar costing P800 million for the Airbus 320 and 319 series aircraft in located within the 2,367-hectare at the aviation complex here.   The hangar started operations in July, 2009.