LIPAD Takes Clark

20 August 2019

North Luzon Airport Consortium has received formal notice from the government to operate and maintain the Clark International Airport under a 25-year concession agreement.

The airport terminal will be operated and maintained by Lipad Corporation, the consortium's subsidiary.

The airport Consortium consists of Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corp, the Gokongwei's JG Summit Holdings Inc, Philippine Airport Ground Support Solutions Inc, and Changi Airports Philippines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Changi Airports International.

CEB To Become Clark's Biggest Airline by December

20 August 2019



Philippine low-cost carrier, Cebu Pacific (CEB) will become the country’s largest airline operator out of the Clark International Airport according to its CEO.

CEB President and CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei said that by October, the airline will be adding the Clark-Puerto Princesa flights by the end of December in addition to new flights for Bacolod and Iloilo.

Gokongwei said CEB will fly to seven domestic and four international destinations, about 170 flights per week with almost 30 percent into Clark. It recently introduce flights to Narita. New flight to Osaka will be added from Clark soon.

“Definitely Clark is in our plans,” he added, especially with the opening of the new Clark passenger terminal which has a capacity of 8 million passengers plus the original four million.

“So, a lot of room to grow. I do expect that Clark will be our fastest-growing hub in the next five years and I think it will easily triple in the next five years,” Gokongwei said.

“If you want to serve Luzon or you want an international hub to the Visayas and Mindanao, then Clark is the place to do it,” explains the CEB President.

Gokongwei disclosed that new international flights of the airline will all originate in Clark, and that includes plans for India and Russian far east.

According to Gokongwei, long-haul flights out of Clark are not yet in the horizon for CEB because “it is not viable for us,”.

“All long haul flights which require widebody operations will still operate in Manila, while all new domestic and international flights from Manila will originate in Clark”. He adds.

DOTr Clears Aboitiz For Panglao OPS

19 August 2019

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has cleared Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc.’s unsolicited proposal to upgrade, operate and maintain the Bohol-Panglao International Airport after finding the revised offer consistent with the concession terms of Clark International Airport Operations and Management contract.

Transportation Undersecretary for planning Ruben Reinoso said the agency has already endorsed Aboitiz Infracapital’s revised offer to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)’s Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) for their approval and public solicitation of comparative bids after obtaining Original Proponent Status in September 3, 2018 for Panglao International Airport in Bohol islands.

Aboitiz made P148-billion offer to take over the maintenance and operation of Iloilo, Bacolod-Silay, Laguindingan, and Bohol airports for 25 years. DOTr approved OPS for Bohol only as other proponents made earlier proposal to other lucrative airports.

Meanwhile, DOTr is expecting the revised proposal from Mega7 Construction Corp. for the operations, maintenance, and development of the Kalibo International Airport, which has been returned to proponent as it “does not exhibit sufficient experience in airport development, operations, and maintenance.” It is also non-compliant with the Clark template.

Similar unsolicited proposals from Prime Asset Ventures Inc. of the Villar group to operate, maintain, and expand the Puerto Princesa airport and Iloilo International airport, was returned for similar inconsistency. The Aboitiz Group proposal for Laguindingan Airport, and Dennis Uy’s Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. for the Davao International Airport was likewise returned for not following the Clark O&M template.

PAA To Fly Guam

16 August 2019

Low Cost Carrier Philippine AirAsia PAA) has sought permission from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to fly to the United States.

The airline requested for a designation and allocation of entitlements under the Philippines-United States of America Air Transport Agreement. It also asked the CAB to revoke the designation of Air Philippines as the official carrier to the US.

CAB Executive Director Camerlo Arcilla said the designation will allow PAA to fly to US territories.

“The allocation of entitlements to the US is not a problem because it’s unlimited, but the designation as official Philippine carrier is limited,” Arcilla said.

CAB disclosed that the number of airlines allowed to be designated as official carrier to the US was only three, prompting Air Asia Philippines to seek the the revocation of Air Philippines’ designation to the US.

Philippine Airlines, Air Philippines and Cebu Pacific are currently designated as official Philippine carrier to the US, while United, Delta, and Hawaiian Airlines are the official Us carriers.

According to Arcilla Air Philippines was not utilizing its permit to fly to the US so Philippine AirAsia wants them given to them as they are ready to fly. Cebu Pacific and Air Philippines once flew Guam and Saipan on different occasion, with the former airline terminating its service on December 7 while the latter flew Saipan two years ago.

Cebu Pacific is pulling out the plug in Guam three years after it started, citing low traffic demand as the main cause.

PAA is applying flight entitlements to Guam and Saipan out of Manila international airport.

DOTr Awards NMIA To SMC

15 August 2019

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has issued the Notice of Award (NOA) to San Miguel Holdings Corp. (SMHC) for the Construction of $15 billion Bulacan International Airport project.

SMHC will undertake the financing, design, construction, supply, completion, testing, commissioning and operation and maintenance of the new international gateway.

The corporation earlier tapped the services of global firms Groupe ADPi, Meinhardt Group and Jacobs Engineering to design and build the New Manila International Airport.

It also engaged Incheon international Airport Corporation as the airport operator to help manage the country’s future premier gateway. The airport will open in 2024.

AirAsia To Make San Miguel Airport Home

Air Asia X Coming to Philippine Subsidiary

14 August 2019

Low-cost carrier AirAsia (PAA) intends to make its Philippine unit the biggest carrier as it makes plan to relocate to a new home in Bulacan.

AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tony Fernandes said they are planning to aggressively increase their market share in the Philippines to take advantage of the infrastructure ramp-up being made in the country.

The statement was made during AirAsia Asean Day celebrations in Bangkok last week.

“I just had a meeting and for this year the Philippines and Indonesia will be our two biggest growth stories and we will add as many as we can,” Fernandes said.

AirAsia currently holds an 18-percent market share in the country’s commercial aviation industry.

Fernandes said he is “proud” of and “amazed” by AirAsia Philippines’s growth, recounting that AirAsia had a “baptism of fire” while putting up their segment here in the country due to stringent competition with other budget airlines.

Asked how he is going to grow AirAsia to get a larger share of the pie in terms of flights and passengers, Fernandes replied, “Well, add more planes.”

He said they are on track to more than doubling their current fleet of 23 planes to 50 in three to four years’ time, with seven planes in the pipeline amounting to an investment of around $350 million.

AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricardo “Ricky” Isla said they are adding new planes in Cebu, Kalibo and Clark hubs as they are “determined” to increase AirAsia’s market share in the Philippines.

“The biggest addition will come from our Manila hub as we bring in the wide bodies.” says Isla

“The second quarter of this year was a record-breaking year of 2.2 million passengers, and that 2.2 million is something like a 25-percent growth from last year. That alone is an indication that we are really determined to get more market share,” Isla said.

“The moment we get all the slots in the airport we can accommodate more aircraft that will give us more destinations”, says Isla.

Right now, we can only add capacity but cannot add more flights in Manila because slots in NAIA are already full, so we need a new Manila airport that has plenty of open slots. We will surely increase our market share very, very soon,” he said.

SMC Hires ADP To Design Bulacan Airport

Fernandes confirms Talk with Ang


13 August 2019

San Miguel Corp. said Tuesday it tapped the services of global companies Groupe ADPi, Meinhardt Group and Jacobs Engineering Group to design and build New Manila International Airport in Bulacan.

SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said the passenger terminal building it propose to build will be capable of accommodating 20 million passengers a year.

Meanwhile, AirAsia Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tony Fernandes said they are planning to aggressively increase their market share in the Philippines.

How exactly, he doesn't say. Air Asia Philippines can't launch more flight in and out of Manila. But he did leave a clue.

“I just had a meeting and for this year the Philippines and Indonesia will be our two biggest growth stories and we will add as many [planes] as we can,” Fernandes said. AirAsia currently holds an 18-percent market share in the country’s commercial aviation industry.

“[The important thing is to] get all the aircraft while there is a continuous growth of airport facilities especially in the next two to three years and we have to be very ready. The moment we get all the slots in the airport we can accommodate more aircraft,” he added.

“More aircraft, more slots in the airport that will give us more destinations—provinces and international—we will surely increase our market share very, very soon,” he said.

Philippines AirAsia grow volume by 30 percent to 6.87 million passengers in 2018. It expects to transport 8 million passengers in 2019.