MANILA, Philippines - Dragonair, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways, has joined the growing family of international airlines at the Clark International Airport linking Clark to 18 cities in China and some 130 destinations worldwide.
Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president and CEO Victor Jose Luciano has announced the start yesterday of Dragonair’s daily Clark-Hong Kong flights “The entry of Dragonair will further boost the growth of the Clark International Airport because this airline offers travellers seamless connections to some 130 destinations worldwide”.
He said CIAC is targeting at least 1.5 million passengers before the end of 2012 due to the additional flights in the international and domestic operations contributed by Air Asia Philippines, Airphil Express, Seair-Tiger and Dragonair. Aircraft movements at the Clark International Airport is at 292 flights per week both local and international.
The integration of Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair linked their international destinations and domestic routes to China which brought forth significant benefits to the travelling public. It also further improved Hong Kong’s position as a leading international aviation hub.
The Cathay Pacific Group, including Dragonair and Air Hong Kong, now operates more than 150 aircraft. Its fleet is being significantly modernized with a total of 30 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft set to arrive this year.
The new Cathay Pacific aircraft will form the backbone of the airline’s ultra-long-haul passenger fleet. It has also upgraded its inflight product with new cabin designs being introduced on the entire medium- and long-haul fleet.
“Clark has positioned itself as a hub for low-cost carriers but now attracting legacy carriers. These are now taking a serious look at Clark airport,” Luciano said.
He added that Dragonair is the second legacy carrier operating in Clark airport after South Korea’s Asiana Airlines.
Dragonair is an affiliate member of the Oneworld Airline Alliance. It has an all-Airbus fleet of 31 aircraft consisting of A320s, A321s and A330s. Dragonair, together with its parent, Cathay Pacific, operated over 56,000 flights, carried nearly 25 million passengers and over 1.52 billion kilograms of cargo and mail. The airline was established in Hong Kong on May 24, 1985 with its hub at the Hong Kong International Airport.
Luciano said Airphil Express also started its thrice-a-week Clark-Singapore and four-times-a-week Clark-Hong Kong international flights on May 17 and 18, respectively at the Clark Airport. Airphil Express is the budget airline of the country’s flag carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL).
“We welcome Dragonair and Airphil Express as the newest members of the international airlines operating at Clark International Airport,” Luciano said.
South East Asian Airlines (Seair) has also recently launched its Clark-Kalibo flights at Clark Airport which will further increase passengers going to the world-famous Boracay Island. Aside from Kalibo flights, Seair-Tiger also flies to Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Kota Kinabalu.
Clark Airport also caters Cebu Pacific Air operations through international flights via Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Macau.The local carrier also has domestic flights via Clark-Cebu route. Other airlines operating at Clark Airport includes Asiana Airlines and Jin Air via Clark-Incheon in South Korea.
Luciano cited the growth of domestic passenger volume to 73,791 Jan. to May 15 this year compared with the 16,918 of the same period last year.
“There have been an exponential growth passengers especially in the domestic front were we obtained a 336 percent increase from January to May alone compared to the previous year,” said Luciano.
This was due to the domestic flights of both AirAsia and Airphil Express that launched the Clark-Kalibo, Davao, Cebu and Puerto Princesa route last March 29. AirAsia Philippines also started its Clark-Davao and Kalibo flights last March 28 and Puerto Princesa last April 20. International passenger volume increased to 31 percent or 355,034 from January to May this year compared to 270,900 last year.
“The entry of AirAsia, Airphil Express and the expansion of Seair-Tiger has brought tremendous growth to passenger volume in Clark,” said Luciano.
Luciano had earlier said that CIAC is fasttracking the construction of the P360 million Phase II project expansion of the Clark Terminal Building to accommodate the growing numbers of passengers using Clark International Airport. The current facility caters two million passengers annually.
The project is expected to be completed early next year.