Clark airport project seen completed ‍by mid-2020

The expansion of Clark International Airport in Pampanga is over 90-percent finished and is on track for completion by the middle of this year, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said on Thursday. The new terminal will have a capacity of eight million passengers a year, double the existing limits of Clark airport, an alternative to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

The passenger terminal is being built by Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure.

Operations, meanwhile, are under Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corp., a venture led by conglomerates JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Filinvest Development Corp. in partnership with Singapore’s Changi Airport Group.

The DOTr said the new terminal was seen to ease congestion in Naia and boost economic growth in northern and central Luzon.

The current Clark airport terminal has a capacity of up to four million passengers a year.

Jake Bingcang, who heads Clark International Airport Corp., said on Thursday the existing terminal would be “decommissioned” once the new facility was finished and the transfer was complete.

“However, if the traffic will exceed eight million and no new terminal is built yet by then, the option is to open the old one,” he added.

Upgrades at Clark airport are being led by the DOTr and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority. These are part of the administration’s broader push to transform Clark into a new metropolis to decongest Metro Manila, about 100 kilometers away.The Clark airport anchors the 9,450-hectare New Clark City, which will include government and business districts. The DOTr is also building a railway line that will link Manila and the Clark Freeport Zone.

Apart from Clark airport, conglomerate San Miguel Corp. is set to build a massive international airport complex in Bulacan province while the Cavite government is seeking to build its own major gateway in Sangley Point, Cavite.

The government is also in talks with seven of the country’s largest business groups, including JG Summit and Filinvest, to expand Naia and privatize its operations.