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CLARK Ecozone: Airport officials here have recorded a
110-percent increase in passenger volume at the Diosdado Macapagal
International Airport (DMIA) last year.
From 224,497 passengers and 1,188
flights in 2005, figures have increased to 470,867 passengers and
2,065 flights last year. DMIA has 230 international flights in 2004
and recorded 49,546 passengers.
The Clark International Airport
Corp. (CIAC) president and CEO, Victor Jose I. Luciano, earlier
announced the entry of more international flights at DMIA in a bid
to make it a “developmental route” in the Metro Luzon super
beltway and a gateway to Asian destinations.
He said Tair Airways would soon
have flights at DMIA to the airports in Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi
Arabia, where more than a million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)
are working.
Due to the influx of OFWs mostly
from the United States, DMIA posted 50,607 passengers last month.
CIAC officials said passengers prefer to arrive in the Philippines
via Inchon, Korea, aboard Asiana flights.
OFWs from Central and Northern
Luzon continue to benefit from the availability of international and
domestic flights at the DMIA.
EVP/COO Alexander Cauguiran
said OFWs in Central Luzon and North Luzon don’t have to travel to
Manila to catch their flights to Saudi Arabia since flights will now
be available at DMIA. Most of the OFWs in Singapore, Malaysia and
Macau prefer to land at DMIA because of the cheap fares offered by
budget airlines.
Airport officials also recorded a
126-percent increase in the terminal fee collections last year. From
P35,863,650-million collections in 2005, the airport earned
P81,097,750 million in 2006 while P8,83,789 million was collected in
2004. Combined international and domestic cargo tonnage also
increased to 15 percent from 112,266 tons in 2005 to 128,747 tons in
2006 while 108,162 tons was recorded in 2004.
--Joey Aguilar
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