AirAsia PH to ‘strategically restore’ Clark Airport flights in Q4

AirAsia Philippines is planning to add flights out of its “home base” in Clark International Airport in Pampanga province, on expectations of continued recovery in air travel.

“Once travel restrictions ease and demand picks up soon, we are eyeing to strategically restore AirAsia’s Clark hub, hopefully by [the fourth quarter] of 2021,” AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricardo Isla said in a statement on Monday.

The budget carrier, a unit of Malaysia’s AirAsia Group, started its Philippine operations in Clark Airport in 2012, before taking over slots in Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport the following year after acquiring Zest Airways.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in 2020, AirAsia Philippines operated domestic and international flights from Clark Airport.

These included Cagayan de Oro, Caticlan, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban, Incheon, Kaohsiung and Taipei.

The carrier renewed its commitment to the air hub as Clark Airport was recently expanded with a new terminal building that could accommodate over 8 million passengers annually, or double its previous capacity.

Over the weekend, President Duterte led the inspection of the new terminal, among the so-called hybrid public-private partnership projects launched and completed during his administration.

The expansion of Clark Airport was part of the government’s goal to develop regional growth centers outside Metro Manila.

The terminal also features “state-of-the-art” facilities such as contactless baggage handling and passenger check-ins and check-outs.

The Clark Airport is currently being operated by private sector consortium Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corp. (Lipad), led by Filinvest Development Corp. and JG Summit Holdings.

Lipad won the 25-year contract to maintain and operate the Clark Airport in 2018 and assumed operations of the facility in August the following year.

The new terminal was built and completed last year by Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure. INQ