Macapagal airport gets cargo, passenger allocation under RP-Thai aviation deal
DIOSDADO Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in the Clark Freeport is now able to accept cargo shipments from Thailand with the recent renewal of the Philippine-Thailand aviation agreement. Based on the deal, 700 tons of cargo per week will be allowed to go through Clark from the previous zero. In addition, Clark got 8,600 passenger seats. Thailand will receive reciprocal seat entitlements of 8,600 for the Clark route bringing the total number of seat entitlements to 17,200 seats weekly or 14 flights daily. Manila airports got 5,400 seats from the previous 2,930 with cargo allocation of 300 metric tons from more than 200 previously. Airports outside Clark and Manila were given 2,110 seats, up from 850. Clark International Airport Corporation president Victor Jose Luciano, a member of the Philippine air panel, said the deal will boost passenger and cargo throughput in Clark. He said the deal also had no limitation on airline designation so that even non-flag carriers can fly between Clark and Bangkok from multiple designations. Traffic would also get a boost if local budget carrier Cebu Pacific Air opened a hub in Clark. Cebu Pacific earlier said it needed five destinations to be able to do so: Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. With Thailand opening up to Clark, all five destinations are now reachable from the Northern Luzon gateway. Korea’s Asiana Airlines just recently started its Clark-US service every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The service connects with the carrier’s international flights to Los Angeles and New York every Tuesday and Thursday and to Chicago every Saturday. Other airlines operating at the DMIA includes Tiger Airways of Singapore via Clark-Singapore-Macau routes, Air Asia of Malaysia via Clark-Kuala Lumpur and Clark-Kota Kinabalu.
