Multiple agencies in the Philippines are joining forces to attract aerospace companies to get established at Clark International Airport (CRK). The focus of the campaign to make more use of the extensive space at the former U.S. military base is mainly on attracting maintenance, repair, and overhaul companies, manufacturers, business aviation services providers (including FBOs), airlines, logistics firms, and training organizations.
The campaign leaders can be found at the Singapore Airshow’s new Philippine Aviation Pavilion. They include the Philippine Department of Transportation, the country’s Civil Aviation Authority, and Clark International Airport Corporation.
Also closely involved in the bid to attract new business is Berthaphil, which was an early investor and developer for the airport's Clark Freeport, where it is marketing a 10-hectare site. Over the past couple of decades, the company has already completed a dozen real estate developments at Clark, including the airport’s first bonded warehouse and logistics center.
CRK is located within the Clark Freeport trade zone, where businesses can benefit from up to a 7-year tax holiday and a corporate income tax rate of just 5 percent. The primary runway is 10,500 feet long and 196 feet wide and also features a new terminal with an annual capacity for 80 million passengers.
The airport is located almost 50 miles north of the capital Manila, to which it is connected by the Northern Luxon Expressway. A new passenger and cargo rail system is due to open in 2025.
“Besides world-class airport infrastructure, a strategic location within Asia’s burgeoning aviation market, and a favorable business environment, another key strength of Clark International Airport as an aerospace center is the Philippines’ skilled and qualified workforce,” said Berthaphil chairman Michael Herman. “Building a hangar, for example, doesn’t mean you have an MRO business. The key to having a successful MRO organization is having skilled and qualified maintenance engineers and technicians, and that’s what the Philippines have.”
According to Herman, companies getting established at CRK have the potential to attract talent already based locally and also expatriates wanting to work closer to home. “It is no secret that many of the qualified maintenance engineers and technicians working in places such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Middle East are Filipinos,” he said.
Among the companies already established at CRK is SIA Engineering, which does airframe maintenance there. Also present are Hong Kong-based business aviation group MetroJet, as well as express freight carriers UPS, DHL, and Fedex.