LIPAD to lease Clark terminal to e-commerce firms

MANILA, Philippines — Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corp. (LIPAD), a Gokongwei and Gotianun-led consortium, plans to lease the existing Clark International Airport passenger terminal to e-commerce and logistics firms once operations of the new passenger terminal starts.

“Once we move to the new terminal, the existing terminal will be decommissioned and made available for lease,” LIPAD chief executive officer Bi Yong Chungunco said in a forum.

Chungunco said the existing terminal is ideal for e-commerce, logistic business, or for manufacturers with fast-moving stocks.

“Facilities are complete, ready to move in for our tenants with minimal capex. It is a very unique access to the airside, allowing seamless movement of goods to the sorting and storage facilities. It also has access to the landside for parking of your transport,” she said.

Chungunco had previously expressed plans to repurpose the airport’s existing passenger terminal once the new terminal starts operations.

In January last year, she offered the existing terminal to be used as a mass vaccination facility.

LIPAD, a consortium composed of Changi Airports Philippines Pte. Ltd., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc., and Philippine Airport Ground Solutions Inc., bagged the 25-year concession agreement for the operations and maintenance of the airport in 2019, including the new terminal.

“When LIPAD took over Clark International Airport in 2019, we were able to expand the network to cover 21 domestic destinations and 15 international destinations, serving about 700 flights weekly from a total of 20 airlines,” Chungunco said.

“Although passenger traffic went down significantly when COVID-19 came and the government started imposing travel restrictions, CRK cargo operations grew by 18 percent in terms of number of flights and 67 percent by cargo tonnages,” she said.

The airport’s new passenger terminal, which was constructed by Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure Ltd., has a design capacity of eight million passengers per annum, nearly double the 4.2 million capacity of the airport’s existing terminal.

LIPAD has been ensuring the operational readiness of the new passenger terminal in line with its opening, successfully holding live domestic trial flights with  Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines last December to further test the systems and processes.

“We know that Clark International Airport  is a major growth driver for this region, thus getting the new terminal ready is critical to our country’s economic recovery,” Chungunco said.

“With a floor area of 110,000 square meters and a design capacity of eight million passengers per annum, the new building will house both domestic and international flights,” she said.

According to Chungunco, one of the unique features that will make Clark International Airport truly world-class are the contactless options.

“For the new terminal, we will be introducing contactless self-service kiosks and self-bag drops to ensure minimal contact between passenger and airport personnel,” she said.

“Another first will be the contactless ordering system for our lounges and restaurants. Ordering food can be done via QR code while guests seat themselves safely-distanced while waiting for their orders,” Chungunco said.