DMIA renamed CIA

Clark International Airport Corp. president and chief executive officer Victor Jose Luciano said the renaming of DMIA was ordered by Malacañang and approved by the CIAC board.

Amid the impending renovation of Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, the facility will be renamed “Clark International Airport.”

Luciano said the DMIA will now be called Diosdado Macapagal Passenger Terminal. He said the CIAC loaned P1 billion from the Land of the Philippines to upgrade the entire facility.

Luciano signed the loan agreement yesterday and brushed off speculations that the renaming was politically motivated and ordered by President Benigno Aquino.

“The Chief Executive did not order the renaming of the airport back to its original name. The CIAC board decided on it because Clark is a practical name and is known internationally,” Luciano said.

In 2003, the CIAC board passed a resolution naming the Clark airport as DMIA in honor of the late father of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Luciano said the name was actually referred only to the terminal and not to the entire aviation complex.

Php 12 B for CIAC

In line with its plan to build a budget terminal, CIAC is also mulling over a city air terminal in Metro Manila to transport passengers with scheduled flights at the DMIA. This project will also be spearheaded by the DOTC and could be included among the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Programs of the administration.

A feasibility study will be done by a third party before the project is auctioned off sometime this year.

But as a necessary pre-requisite, Clark needs a high-speed train to the mainland, possibly in the central business district of Makati City so commuters will have a direct access going to the DMIA.

The CIAC used to be under the supervision of the Office of the President.

A P12-billion budget terminal will rise on a 40-hectare area at the Clark Freeport in Pampanga that can handle about 10 million passengers a year. If all goes well, it will start operating in 2015.

The feasibility study on it will be finished by the end of next month or early April, at the latest, according to a top official of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC).

The study will then be turned over to the Department of Transportation and Communications transportation department.

The Asia Foundation was tapped to conduct the study, at no cost to the government, said Luciano.

This new terminal will be linked to the existing passenger terminal. “The terminal itself will cost only P4 billion. But the civil works, new software system, and equipment are going to be expensive. We need a huge area where the airplanes will be parked. The pavement is going to be expensive,” Luciano said.

He said the need was for a new passenger terminal for budget carriers flocking to Clark. “Our existing terminal is not going to handle the rising number of passengers. It is being expanded, yes. But it may not handle future traffic,” Luciano said.

The volume of passengers within the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) is expected to jump to 1 million this year from 765,000 last year. “Budget airlines are coming in and adding more planes. That’s where the growth will come from,” said Luciano. He added that the DMIA handled 600,000 passengers in 2010.

The DMIA in Clark, Pampanga, is being considered to replace the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia). There are three Naia terminals, all of which are expected to reach and exceed their designed capacity soon.