P200 M allotted to expand terminal at DMIA

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has earmarked P200 million to upgrade the passenger terminal of low-cost carriers at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here.

The construction of the terminal will start as soon as a $1.5-million feasibility study on it as well as on a full-scale gateway terminal is completed.

The Clark Development Corp. (CDC) earlier said its board of directors had approved a $1.5-million budget for the feasibility study to transform the DMIA into the country’s premier international airport by 2015.

The CDC said the MIAA funding will be used to expand the DMIA’s present passenger terminal which the US military built when it operated an air base here.

The terminal, however, could accommodate only 1.5 million passengers yearly.

Antonio Ng, CDC president and chief executive officer, said the expanded passenger terminal of low-cost carriers will be patterned after the newly inaugurated terminal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and will accommodate 2.5 million passengers annually.

The terminal project will take two years, but domestic and international flights will continue even while the facility is being constructed, Ng said.

The DMIA hosts several low-cost carriers, including Singapore Airlines’ subsidiary Tiger Airways which flies daily to Singapore and Macau; Air Asia which flies thrice a week to Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lum—pur, and Bangkok, Thailand; Asiana Airlines, South Korea’s second largest flag carrier which flies daily to Seoul; Taiwan’s oldest airline Far East Transport Airlines Corp.; and Hong Kong’s China Rich and HK Express, which regularly flies to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The DMIA also hosts the world’s biggest air cargo company, United Parcel Service (UPS), as well as Transglobal Airways.

Ng said the expansion of the DMIA terminal was designed to accommodate the growing number of flights here.

From only 39 weekly flights last year, the DMIA now accommodates as many as 70 flights weekly, he said.

Although the plans are expected to be realized by 2015, Ng said the timetable for the terminal project has to be "accelerated" due to the looming congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.