International
Emirates’ return to Clark ‘to help decongest Manila airport’
Emirates’ return to Clark ‘to help decongest Manila airport’
Emirates recently announced the resumption of its daily flights to Clark via the Dubai-Cebu-Clark circular service in the Philippines.
The new route is also expected to benefit a large number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) particularly those in the UAE, Qatar and other GCC countries who live in northern and central part of the Philippines.
“Presently we are engaging the national government to show them that Clark is willing and able to be that airport to help decongest NAIA,” Tanjuatco said in a press statement.
He added that they want to contribute to the national scene by providing quality air transport services.
While many travellers have been complaining of flight delays and cancellations due to air traffic congestion at NAIA, various groups had urged the national government to transfer a significant number of flights to Clark.
Philippine authorities also refused to increase the frequency of daily flights to Manila requested by some foreign airlines including those in the Middle East. Unlike NAIA, Clark is open for more daily flights.
Qatar Airways is the only airline in the Middle East that flies to Clark daily.
Tanjuatco met with Emirates officials at the World Routes Convention in South Africa in September last year to discuss the latter’s return at Clark after two years.
“During the convention, we discussed Clark International Airport’s (CIA) capabilities in becoming the most suitable airport for their flights,” he said.
“While they expressed some important concerns about their flight operations at the airport, CIAC worked hard to appropriately address the issues and concerns that they raised,” the CEO added.
Emirates officials led by Guy Hickling, manager for Procurement and Logistics and Jie Zhu, senior regional manager for Airport Services Asia, also visited Clark recently.
During their meeting, Zhu lauded CIAC officials for the significant improvements done at the airport.
Emirates will be using a two-class configured Boeing 777-300ER which offers 42 seats in Business Class and 386 seats in Economy.
Besides decongesting NAIA, the increase of daily flights at Clark will also benefit areas outside Metro Manila including northern and central Luzon.
“These developments in the aviation sector are geared at supporting the government’s efforts to promote tourism and improve the local and national economy,” he noted.
Other airlines such as Qatar Airways, Asiana Airlines, Dragon Air, Cebu Pacific Air, CEBGO, Air Asia Berhad, Tiger Air Singapore and Jin Air also have flights to Clark.