Airport reaping rewards from air access policy
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
CLARK FREEPORT — A top official of a business group here recently said that the liberal air access policy has transformed the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) from a sleepy and idle airport into one of the fastest-growing and busiest regional airports today.
Metro Angeles Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. president Francisco Villanueva Jr. said the Clark Freeport, through this policy, has been reaping the benefits in the form of locators like SIA Engineering, Gate Gourmet and the Global Logistics Gateway, whose investments amount to at least $300 million.
“There are also new locators, such as The Medical City, that will generate jobs,” Villanueva noted.
He said the number of hotel rooms in Clark and its environs increased from only less than 2,000 in 2004 to 5,326 in 2009, with hotel rooms filled up by visitors coming from as far as Australia via Singapore.
Further, he said, the commercial, transport and service enterprises increased by 127 percent from 2000 to 2008 in Mabalacat. Construction and real estate boomed in Angeles City, with the number of enterprises growing by 1000 percent due to tourism, long stay and retirement.
“In 2009, jobs increased by 230 percent, from only 10,540 in 2004, as a result of the 19 percent growth in the number of business enterprises, largely medium scale,” he said.
Villanueva recounted that the DMIA was a neglected airport for more than 10 years since President Ramos declared it as the future premier international gateway of the country in 1994. He said its excellent infrastructure assets, left by the US in 1991, remained idle for years.
“But look at where DMIA and its environs are now. From only 44 international flights in 2003, the number of flights skyrocketed to 5,326 in 2009, an increase of 12,000 percent. Passenger traffic grew by 70 times from just 7,880 to 558,937 in the same period. Passenger traffic from January to October 2010 already reached half a million, 20 percent higher than its year-ago level,” he said.
Thousands of these passengers, according to Villanueva, are overseas contract workers who regularly visit their families due to the attractive prices of low-cost carriers. Tourists who account for 37 percent of the passenger volume also benefit from these lower fares, he said.
“How did this happen? The answer is in the liberal air access policy that we, stakeholders of Central Luzon, supported and continue to support,” he said.
According to Villanueva, new regional and foreign carriers like Tiger Airways and Air Asia saw something precious in using Clark as a gateway in 2005.
“They entered Clark under the liberalized charter policy of the Civil Aeronautics Board, a policy that was unilaterally pursued by the Philippine government. They could not enter under the restrictive provisions of the so-called bilateral air agreements. We did not force other countries to adopt the same policy. We did not ask for a seat for seat exchange. The government saw the need to develop secondary gateways that have been thirsty for growth. This was a very pro-Filipino policy,” he said.
Villanueva said the issuance of Executive Order No. 500 in January 2006 aimed to provide a more stable policy environment in order to sustain these opportunities from enhanced connectivity and sought to take advantage of DMIA’s strategic location and infrastructure by inviting the airlines to connect DMIA to markets that matter the most without being constrained by the restrictive provisions of agreements.
“We never bothered counting the seat entitlements. We only bothered with the business opportunities brought about by the growth of DMIA. From 2007 to 2009, a number of air agreements were amended. The local carriers responded to competition and started to invest in Clark,” he said. (Ria de Fiesta)
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/airport-reaping-rewards-air-access-policy
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