The Philippine unit of Southeast Asia’s largest budget airline plans to establish Clark International Airport as its main hub as the government removes navigational fees to support operations.
“We plan to establish Clark as our main hub, because Manila is too crowded. If I have 70 planes in 10 years, I do not have a place to park in Manila. So, the government was gracious enough to comply with our request. We need more airports,” Capt. Dexter Comendador, chief executive of Philippines AirAsia, said.
The airline plans to have a total 26 aircraft by end-2018.
Comendador said the government removed airport fees and navigational fees in Clark and was also expected to remove travel tax to attract more passengers to fly in Clark.
“Since we are opening Clark as a hub, we plan to fly to Korea, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and Taipei,” Comendador said.
AirAsia launched commercial flights at Clark in 2012 before transferring its hub to Metro Manila following a strategic partnership with ZestAir in 2013.
Philippines Air Asia resumed flights from Clark with three weekly flights to Kalibo (Boracay) in March.
AirAsia Philippines operates a fleet of 17 aircraft with domestic and international flights out of hubs in Manila, Cebu and Kalibo.
The airline operates several flights to/from Manila, Davao, Cebu, Kalibo, Caticlan (Boracay), Tacloban, Tagbilaran (Bohol), Puerto Princesa (Palawan), Clark, and Iloilo in the Philippines with international flights to/from Shanghai, Taipei, Incheon (Seoul), Hong Kong, Macau, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Guangzhou, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore.
Malaysia’s Air Asia, through AA International, owns 40 percent of Philippines’ Air Asia Inc., while Filipinos Marriane Hontiveros, Michael Romero, Antonio Cojuangco and Alfredo Yao hold the balance of 60 percent.
