Clark airport expands Terminal 1
Posted on March 4th, 2010
At the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), the construction of the P308-million expansion of the existing terminal is in full blast and it is expected to be operation next month. According to Victor Jose Luciano, president and chief executive officer of Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), the newly expanded Terminal 1 will feature two passenger boarding bridges for the added convenience of passengers.
“We expect this to be operational in April and we will invite President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to lead the inauguration of the new expanded terminal on her birthday, April 5,” he said. The two passenger boarding bridges are expected to arrive at the Clark Civil Aviation Complex in Clark Freeport Zone by the end of this month.
The expanded terminal will have a bigger space for commercial concessionaires and a larger lounge for passengers. It will accommodate an additional 500,000 passengers annually, on top of the current capacity of 2 million passengers.
The expansion will convert the DMIA Terminal 1 into a two-story building with the boarding bridges, flight information display, closed-circuit television camera, background music, public address system, x-ray machines, escalators and elevators.
The DMIA increased its passenger volume last year at an average of 14 percent, with passenger figures breaching the 600,000 mark. That, in spite of the slump in the aviation industry last year, not only in the Asian region but globally.
According to Luciano, more airlines are expected to start operations at the DMIA following completion of the terminal expansion of which the new facilities will add to the convenience of travelers.
The airline companies operating at the DMIA at present are Asiana Airlines of South Korea that flies to Incheon; the Philippines’ Cebu Pacific Air that services Bangkok, Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong; Air Asia Berhad of Malaysia which flies to Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur; Singapore’s Tiger Airways with daily flights to Singapore; the Spirit of Manila that flies to Taipei; and the Southeast Asian Airlines that flies to Caticlan for travelers who are going to the island resort of Boracay.
