Clark booming both in int’l arrivals, foreign investments

CLARKFIELD, Angeles City – Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) president Victor Jose Luciano said yesterday international arrivals in this former US military base may reach the half-a-million mark by the end of this year.

The newly-appointed DMIA president said the unprecedented increase in tourist arrivals may be attributed to the success of budget airlines plying between Clark and Singapore and other destinations in East-Asia.

In an interview, Luciano also announced that foreign investments, mostly movables like airplanes and aviation-related businesses in Clarkfield has already reached R35 billion

He said the increase in both numbers of visitors and amount of foreign investments has created 46,000 new jobs or almost double of the 18,000 jobs created in 2001.

"The big development in Clark today is the budget airlines. If you go abroad the price of air tickets now are amazingly low. Airlines have reduced the air cost by eliminating travel agent fees and other incidentals. And because of this, instead of coming home to the Philippines, OFWs buy members of their families air tickets to visit them in their country of work, like Hong Kong and Singapore," Luciano said.

He said because of low price of air tickets more and more people are traveling now resulting to the development of other airports in the country.

Luciano expressed the hope that by next year, after the construction of additional passenger buildings, Clark may increase its capacity to one million passengers. He said airport capacity is based on the size and number of its passenger buildings and aprons or parking areas for airplanes.

He said DMIA will be inviting Middle East-based airlines, like Etihad, Gulf Air, and Emirates to land in Clark.

He said Clark will soon establish flight catering to service foreign airlines. He said only recently President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo inaugurated Clark’s Foreign Institute of Aviation because of world’s shortage of pilots. Next month, a simulator for the institute will arrive. He said Asia alone needs 4,000 pilots a year. "There is aviation boom all over the world."

Luciano said the aviation institute is expected to generate thousands of personnel to maintain airplanes offering salaries higher that ordinary.

To prepare Filipinos who are out of jobs for job placement abroad, Clark is also establishing a polytechnic or training school for electricians, carpenters, and other blue-collar jobs which are in great demand in industrialized and developed countries, like the US, Canada and Australia.