THERE is big potential for cargo at Clark International Airport, especially with two international airlines starting services soon to the Pampanga aviation hub using wide-body aircraft.
Dubai-based Emirates will start operating flights to Clark on October 1, while Qatari flag carrier Qatar Airways will launch its service to that destination on October 28. Both carriers will be deploying Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus 330 aircraft.
In a presentation at the Clark: Dual Airport Declaration signing last week, Jeff Pradhan, vice for sales and marketing for Global Gateway Logistics City, said Emirates can offer 500 tons of air cargo capacity per week while Qatar Air can haul 250-300 tons per week.
The Declaration, signed by various business associations, airline companies and related aviation stakeholders, called for the Philippine government to adopt the dual airport system with Clark International Airport as the northern airport of Luzon and Ninoy Aquino International Airport as the island’s southern airport. The Declaration also called for the “fast track development of Clark’s infrastructure to meet current and future passenger, carrier and cargo growth”.
Pradhan said FedEx is also “seriously looking” to expand at Clark airport. FedEx already operates out of Clark 13 times a week to Taipei and Guangzhou, China while United Parcel Service makes the same number of flights a week to Taipei and Shenzhen.
He said additional air services in Clark are beneficial to businesses located in and out of the Clark freeport zone.
At the sidelines of the Declaration signing, Asia Foundation air transport adviser Capt. Benjamin Solis told PortCalls that under a dual airport system, Clark will not take away cargo from NAIA. “FedEx in 2002 was doing 60 tons a day, then 40-50 tons after a year – the same volume as NAIA. But we (Solis was part of the team that ran FedEx at that time) were not stealing out of NAIA because (FedEx) is a different kind of carrier. If you look at it, NAIA on its own was processing 200 tons a day. FedEx was doing about a thousand tons a day. (FedEx at Clark) generated all those movements without even affecting the old one (at NAIA),” he explained.
Photo from www.qatarairways.com
