P3 Billion Allocated for Clark Budget Air Terminal

The Department of Transportation and Communications is seeking to move forward with a proposal to build a budget terminal at Clark International Airport following a proposed inclusion of around half the cost of the building in next year's budget.

Assistant Secretary Jaime Feliciano told reporters that P3 billion has been allocated in the 2014 budget for the construction of a 45,000 square meter budget terminal at Clark International Airport. The total cost of the new terminal is expected to be P6 billion. According to Feliciano, although the money is in the budget, a quick feasibility study must be completed by Clark Airport and then it must be approved by the National Economic Development Authority.

Photo Source: Clark International Airport

The new 45,000 square metre budget terminal is anticipated to take up to two years to complete and following completion, will be able to accommodate up to 4.5 million passengers. Feliciano says that the terminal will be at a new location in the Clark area. Previous plans for Clark Airport did not include a budget terminal when budget travellers represent a significant portion of the travelling passengers. The Center for Asia Pacific Aviation reported in January that nearly 80% of the country's 15.5 million domestic travellers and 30% of the 12.5 million international travellers are flown by budget carriers.Clark Airport is already home to several budget carriers including Cebu Pacific, Southeast Asian Airlines, Jin Air, Zest Air, and Air Asia. Those airlines service a handful of regional destinations in Asia including Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Macau, and Taipei among others. 

But Clark International Airport is also home to legacy carriers including Asiana Airlines and Dragonair. In October, it will be welcoming two new airlines from the Middle East: Qatar Airways and Emirates. When the budget carriers shift to the new budget terminal, this will provide more room for passengers and aircraft on medium to long-haul routes and possibly pave the way for more legacy carriers to utilize Clark as an alternate to NAIA.

 The announcements suggests that the Aquino administration favours the development of Clark International Airport and is working towards creating a dual-airport system as a gateway to the country. In 2012, Clark Airport served a record 1.3 million passengers which is an increase of 71% from its results in 2011.

It was announced in April by the National Economic Development Authority that Metro Pacific Investments Corporation has expressed its intention to finance the $3-billion Clark-Metro Manila high speed rail link project. There have been no formal proposals from the private sector to partner on the project but there is interest.