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By Mark Louie Roxas, Correspondent
CLARK FREEPORT: The international airport in
Manila will give way to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport
(DMIA) inside Clark Freeport Zone as the premier gateway to the
Philippines, President Gloria Arroyo announced.
The airport in Pampanga was named after
President Arroyo’s father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal.
The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1, the oldest
terminal facility in the country, will be closed down.
“Clark will now be the new premier airport,”
Mrs. Arroyo declared Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting in Malacañang
convened to discuss the future of Philippine aviation, including
Macapagal airport’s role as a developmental route where a
liberalized regime of air policies will be in effect. She gave
officials one year to turn the airport in Clark into the new premier
facility.
Secretary Leandro Mendoza of the Department of
Transportation and Communications (DOTC) earlier briefed the
President on the need to transfer NAIA Terminal 1’s operations to
Pampanga to ensure the country’s economic competitiveness.
“For the Philippines to be competitive, we
have to close down [Terminal 1] as our major gateway and transfer
[that role] to Clark,” Mendoza said. A number of Asian countries
including the Philippines are working on a multilateral agreement
providing for an open-skies regime among them.
“In other words, you are saying Clark will not
just be a developmental route, it will now be the premier
airport,” Mrs. Arroyo told Mendoza. “Clark will now be phased in
as the premier airport because NAIA 1 is too crowded already,” she
said.
Mendoza said Asean member-countries, Japan,
South Korea and China have already agreed to adopt “open skies”
in the region beginning with unlimited flights between capital
cities by December 2008. Asean, or Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, groups the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan of the Subic-Clark
Alliance for Development Council said the President is inclined to
sign and issue a new executive order liberalizing aviation over
Macapagal airport and Subic International Airport in Subic Freeport
Zone in Zambales.
“The President also instructed the DOTC
[secretary] and other Cabinet members to study the aviation policies
of Vietnam, which has been experiencing dramatic growth of its
tourism industry and determine whether these policies could be
adopted to our advantage,” Pamintuan said.
Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC)
Chairman Nestor Mangio welcomed the President’s announcement to
designate Maca-pagal airport as the new main gateway. “It is the
right thing to do to serve our national interests.”
“DMIA is more than enough to answer our
country’s need for a modern and efficient international gateway
which is important for us to sustain our economic competitiveness in
international trade and commerce,” Mangio said.
He added that Clark’s 2,500-hectare civil
aviation complex is undergoing a major facelift starting with the
expansion of its passenger terminal to accommodate around two
million passengers a year.
“This initial phase of terminal expansion is
expected to be finished by the first week of March this year,”
Mangio said.
On top of its modern instrument landing system,
navigational aids, meteorological equipment and complete airfield
lighting system, the Clark International Airport Corp. also recently
installed a new $10-million radar considered as the most advanced in
the country.
As one of the largest aviation complexes in
Asia, with its two 3.2-kilometer parallel runways, the Macapagal
airport is also certified by the International Civil Aviation
Organization with ratings of Category 1 for Precision Approach
Runway and Category IX for Emergency Services.
“There is even enough room at Clark’s
aviation complex to expand our runways and terminals to accommodate
the largest wide-bodied aircraft in the world,” Mangio said. He
noted the recent landing at Macapagal airport of the Airbus A380,
currently the biggest passenger airline in the world that is capable
of accommodating 800 passengers.
The chief of Manila International Airport
Authority (MIAA) welcomed the decision to promote the Macapagal
airport, saying it will bring in more tourists and revenues.
Alfonso Cusi, airport authority general manager,
told The Manila Times on Wednesday that more premier airports will
bring in development for the country.
He said the closure of NAIA Terminal 1 will
depend largely on the development of the Macapagal airport and the
opening of the mothballed NAIA Terminal 3.
The airport authority is now focused on opening
Terminal 3 in Manila, which is designed to handle 13 million
passengers a year. It is hoping to finish remaining work at the
terminal, including repair of its structural defects.
Under an earlier plan, Terminal 1in Manila will
be closed down when Terminal 3 is fully operational. NAIA 3 will
handle all international flights and Terminal 2, or Centennial
Airport, will be designated to handle domestic flights.
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