The Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here is being further expanded under local airport authorities’ determined program of making it as the premier international gateway of the Philippines.

The initial expansion program of DMIA consisting of improving its passenger terminal with an appropriation of P150 million was inaugurated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on April 4, 2008. The terminal was expanded to increase its annual capacity from 500,000 to about two million.

In 2007, the DMIA posted at least 533,619 domestic and international passengers and the number of passengers is steadily increasing by the year. Over 480,000 passengers were re-posted 230 international flights with 49,546 passengers; 1,188 flights with 224,497 passengers (2005); 2,065 international flights with 470,867 passengers (2006).

For its domestic flights, DMIA recorded 432 domestic flights with 9,442 passengers in 2004; 455 flights with 7,816 passengers in 2005; and 433 flights with 17,889 passengers in 2006.

Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president/CEO Victor Jose I. Luciano said DMIA is increasing its capacity in a bid to service the continued growth in passenger volume in the airport.

Most of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in nearby Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Macau and Hong Kong are passing through DMIA because of the presence of budget airlines. The social cost to Filipinos leaving for jobs abroad is lessened because families can now visit their loved ones abroad because of the presence of cheap flights at DMIA.

“Our Filipino workers heading overseas no longer have to travel all the way to Manila to catch their flights because DMIA is right at their door step,” said Luciano.

“Cheap fares also allow our beloved OFWs to go home as often as they want. Now air travel is available to everybody,” said Luciano, urging residents of Central and North Luzon to travel via DMIA. “There is no heavy traffic, no heat. It is more convenient and a lot cheaper.”

Citing its contribution to the regional aviation industry, the Center for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA) in 2007 recognized DMIA as “Low Cost Airport of the Year 2006.” Luciano received the plaque of recognition from CAPA Executive Chairman Peter Habison during the Aviation Outlook Summit in Singapore last year.

A year after the CAPA citation, Luciano returned to Singapore to receive the “Airport of the Year” Award for airport servicing below 15 million annual passengers category at the 2008 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Aerospace and Defense Awards on March 14, 2008.

The Frost & Sullivan Award stated: “From humble beginnings of serving only charter flights, the recipient’s growth has been nothing short of remarkable. It has positioned itself to become the future primary airport serving the surrounding major cities. The recipient’s performance in 2007 has raised its profile amongst the industry and has created a strong platform towards the coming years.

“In the last two years, the DMIA has come to have a life of its own,” Luciano said, noting that the global citations came at the time that the airport was experiencing an unprecedented growth in aviation-related projects and passenger volume.

Other developments that took place at the civil aviation complex last year aside from the expanded DMIA terminal include the completion of the .3-million catering facility of Miascor and Gate Gourmet Philippines in April, the groundbreaking of the Global Gateway Logistics City of the Kuwait Gulf and Link (KGL) in August, the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility of the SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC) in November and the groundbreaking of the P1-billion hangar facility of Spirit in Manila Airlines.

Luciano has also been successful in getting separate seat entitlements for Clark in various air talks conducted here and overseas. New and increased seats entitlements had been inked with Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Finland, Russia and Cambodia.

Luciano said that according to thousands of passengers who have landed and departed from DMIA, most of them OFWs, they would not forget the many benefits they experienced in DMIA.

They said that they saved lots of pesos and time than using the airports in Metro Manila. They added that it is more convenient to pass through DMIA in going abroad.

Meanwhile, Luciano bared recently that the P4 billion terminal 2 project would be completed before the end of the term of President Arroyo in 2010.

Many people in Central and Northern Luzon were very thankful to President Arroyo for her determined plan to established a modern railway system that will link Clark Freeport with Metro Manila.

The President likewise has instructed Secretary Ed Pamintuan, head of the North Luzon Expressway, to complete also the railway system before the end of her term.

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