THE GOVERNMENT is building a $142-million airport terminal at the 
Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Pampanga as it anticipates increased air traffic and passengers from nearby provinces.
Eleven local and foreign companies are vying for the contract to build the terminal, which can accommodate eight million passengers a year, said Victor Jose I. Luciano, president of the Clark International Airport Corp. Bidding for the project, expected to be completed in two years, will start in the middle of this month.
Mr. Luciano told reporters yesterday the new terminal would complement the existing one at the Pampanga airport, which can only handle two million passengers yearly.
He said the Clark hub is "envisioned to become the future international gateway" since Manila’s international airport system is already congested.
Officials of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) have said the airport system in the country’s capital consisting of the old domestic terminal, and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminals 1 and 2 are used by more than 20 million passengers yearly — above its designed capacity of 18 million.
With the opening of the NAIA-3, which is expected to run at full capacity by the first quarter of next year, Manila’s airport system will get an additional capacity of 13 million passengers a year.
The NAIA-3 is occupied by Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) low-cost brand PAL Express, and Air Philippines. MIAA officials said the terminal is running at 60% of its capacity.
Mr. Luciano said the Clark terminal could be an alternative to the Manila airport, especially for passengers coming from Northern and Central Luzon. He said the region is the second richest area in the country next to the greater Metro Manila area.
Eventually, he added, the two terminals would have to be connected somehow.
Mr. Luciano said the country’s airport terminals would be comparable to those of New York, London and Bangkok, which all have multiple terminals.
Also yesterday, Gokongwei-led Cebu Pacific announced that it was setting up a hub in Clark.
Cebu Air, Inc. President and Chief Executive Lance Y. Gokongwei told a briefing that starting Nov. 8, two European-made ATR aircraft would start flying out of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport daily for Hong Kong and Singapore, four times weekly to Macau and thrice weekly to Bangkok. All flights will have return trips to Clark.
Mr. Gokongwei said flights between Clark and Cebu City in Central Visayas would become daily from three times a week.
"This will make the Philippines, especially the Northern and Central Luzon region, as a more attractive tourism and trade destination," he said.
The airline announced in May an order for six small ATR aircraft and an option to buy eight more units for a total purchase price of $275 million.
The company will also set up a heavy aircraft maintenance facility in Clark, expected to open by yearend. The P2-billion facility, a joint venture with a Singaporean firm, will cater to medium- to long-haul, narrow- and wide-bodied jets.
Aside from its ATR aircraft, the airline will also base one of its 18 $40-million Airbus jets in Clark for international flights.
Mr. Gokongwei said he expects the airline to post double-digit profits this year, even as the company continues to post losses in the third quarter, a lean season.
He said the airline would recover during the holiday peak season in the fourth quarter, but declined to give further details.
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