CIAC president/CEO Victor Jose Luciano speaks to Qatar Airways country manager (Philippines) Abdallah Okasha (right) at the 2014 Clark Aviation Conference yesterday.
Qatar Airways will continue flying to the Clark International Airport (CIA) in the Philippines, even though the Emirates Airlines, the only other Gulf carrier to the destination, suspended daily flights from May 3.
In a press statement sent to Gulf Times, Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) said Qatar Airways country manager (Philippines) Abdallah Okasha made the announcement during the Clark Aviation Conference held at Holiday Inn Resort at Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga yesterday.
Okasha noted that Qatar Airways has recorded at least a 50% to 90% increase in the load factor since its maiden flight to CIA. The airline is using Airbus 330 aircraft with a capacity of 305 passengers.
“We are proud to highlight Qatar Airways’ commitment to the Philippines will continue,” he said, as he thanked the Philippine government, business communities, trade players, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) officials and the CIAC management headed by CEO Victor Jose Luciano for all the support they have given to QA.
“Special thanks to the management of CIAC for putting Qatar Airways to the Global Community when we launched our 133 destinations last October 2013 at Clark Airport,” Okasha stressed in the same statement.
Ambassador Crescente Relacion joined senior Qatar Airways officials and hundreds of OFWs from Qatar during the maiden flight in October last year.
Supporting the statement of Okasha, CIAC president and CEO Victor Jose Luciano also noted an increase of Qatar Airways passengers via its Clark daily flights. He said that the airline’s flights to Clark were always fully booked and OFWs from Northern Philippines preferred to land at CIA.
Luciano also thanked Qatar Airways for its trust and confidence to CIA. He vowed to continue supporting all the endeavours and operations of the airline at the 2,367-hectare Clark Civil Aviation Complex.
CIAC said Emirates Airlines had suspended its Clark flights due to low load factor, intense competition and reportedly because of the huge excise tax imposed by the Philippine Bureau of International Revenue on jet fuel used for international flights.
In an earlier statement sent to Gulf Times, an airline spokesperson said: “Emirates can confirm that it is suspending its daily, non-stop service between Clark International Airport and Dubai from 1st May 2014. The decision was made after a review of the airline’s operations to ensure the best utilisation of its aircraft fleet for its overall business objectives.” The airline will continue its three daily, non-stop flights between Manila and Dubai.
CIA is currently rehabilitating its facilities in a bid to improve its services as it prepares to be the next alternative airport after NAIA in Manila.
The new passenger terminal building had been completed recently and fully operating. It can accommodate at least 4mn passengers annually. CIAC spent P417mn for its phase 2 expansion project and another P7.2bn was proposed for the construction of a low-cost carrier terminal designed to accommodate 10 million passengers annually.
Besides Qatar Airways, other airlines operating at Clark Airport included Cebu Pacific Air, Tiger Air Philippines, Asiana Airlines, Dragonair, Jin Air, and Seair-International.