The Department of Transportation said it is set to turn over the operations and maintenance of Clark International Airport to Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corp. on Aug. 16.
“By Aug. 16, we’ll be ready to turn over the O&M to Lipad Corp.,” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said.
Lipad is the corporate name of the former North Luzon Airport Consortium composed of Changi Airports Philippines Pte. Ltd., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Philippine Airport Ground Support Solutions Inc.
The company won the public bidding in December 2018 for the operations and maintenance of Clark International Airport’s existing passenger terminal and the development of a new modern terminal building targeted for operation by 2020.
Lipad plans to establish a new reputation for Philippine international gateway airports to ensure ease and seamless travel in the Philippine airports with the consortium’s technical partner, Changi Airport Philippines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Changi Airports International of Singapore.
Tugade also said he was expecting Terminal 2 at Clark to be operational by June or July next year.
Megawide-GMR earlier won the bidding for the construction of a new passenger terminal in Clark Airport when it submitted the lowest financial proposal of P9.36 billion on Dec. 14.
“Our expectation is to increase the capacity from 4 million to 12 million passengers,” Tugade said.
Clark International Airport is the second main gateway in Luzon. The new 100,000-square-meter terminal will double its capacity to eight million passengers a year, easing the strain on Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City and boosting the development of Central Luzon.
Clark International Airport has an annual capacity of four million passengers. Airlines operating in Clark include Qatar Airways, Cebu Pacific, Tigerair, Jin Air, Asiana Airlines, Dragon Air, AirAsia Berhad, Philippine Airlines and Emirates Airlines.
These airlines mount flights to Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Macau, Pudong, Incheon, Doha, Dubai, Davao, Cebu and Kalibo.
