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By Darwin G Amojelar, Reporter
THE Philippines and Thailand agreed to raise
flight frequencies between the two countries in bid to boost two-way
tourism and trade.
Victor Jose Luciano, president of Clark
International Airport Corp., said the Diosdado Macapagal
International Airport (DMIA) in Clark Freeport received the biggest
allocation yet with 8,600 seats. Thailand will get a reciprocal seat
entitlement of 8,600 for the Clark route bringing the total number
of seat entitlements to 17,200 seats weekly or 14 flights daily.
The two countries concluded their air service
agreement July 25.
“This is a great step for DMIA in bringing
more tourists in the Northern and Central Luzon as the airport is on
its way [to] becoming the country’s premier gateway,” Luciano
said in a statement.
He also said that cargo capacity at DMIA would
rise from zero to 700 tons weekly, adding the agreement provided no
limits to airline designation. This means that even non-flag
carriers can fly to Clark from multiple designations.
The air agreement also allocated 5,400 seats for
Manila airports from 2,930 earlier, while their cargo allocation
rose to 300 tons from more than 200 previously.
Other airports outside Clark and Metro Manila
were given allocations of 2,110 seats from their previous 850 seats.
Air traffic at DMIA is expected to get a lift after Cebu Pacific
revealed plans to operate at the 2,500-hectare Civil Aviation
Complex its Clark-Bangkok and Clark-Hong Kong routes.
Cebu Pacific also plans to operate other
destinations in Clark, including Macau, Singapore and Taiwan, making
the former US facility the carrier’s hub in the Northern Luzon
area.
Korea’s Asiana Airlines on July 22 started its
Clark-US flights every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. These will
connect with Asiana’s international flights to Los Angeles and New
York every Tuesday and Thursday and to Chicago every Saturday.
Asiana’s flights have increased to 10 per week
from its previous seven flights. Asiana uses an AirBus 320 with a
capacity of 142. Other airlines operating at the airport are Tiger
Airways of Singapore for its Clark-Singapore-Macau routes and Air
Asia of Malaysia for its Clark-Kuala Lumpur and Clark-Kota Kinabalu
routes.
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