As part of the Philippine government’s plan to reduce congestion at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Philippine Airlines subsidiary PAL Express will move its turboprop flights to Clark International Airport (CIA), 50 miles outside the Filipino capital.
As the carrier devises its new schedule, it has cancelled 30 weekly flights from NAIA to Caticlan, Cebu (six), Tuguergaro (two), Legaspi (one), Kalibo (one), Laoag (one) and Tablas one, all operated by Bombardier Q400 and Q300 turboprops. PAL Express operates five Q400s and five Q300s.
Plans call for the move to come this month, after authorities improve bus and taxi services from CIA to Manila, enhance refueling service and put into place catering service to meet PAL Express’s requirements for the Bombardier aircraft.
PAL president Jaime Bautista said the infrastructure at CIA must improve before his airline moves the flights from Manila.
“We have done our part to immediately cancel some services out of NAIA in response to the government's call to reduce congestion at the airport,” Bautista said.
PAL Express’s flights to CIA will involve point-to-point services. Authorities have yet to decide whether passengers connecting to international flights at NAIA will be accepted on the flights to CIA, then transferred by road to Manila.
The policy change will not affect turboprop operations to NAIA by low-fare airline Cebu Pacific. The carrier’s fleet of 16 ATR 72-600s operates out of Mactan International Airport in Cebu.
Philippines Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said some turboprop operations must move to CIA because NAIA now operates beyond its capacity of 35 million passengers.
Tugade acknowledged that the infrastructure at CIA must improve.
Traffic projections for NAIA, which handled 36.7 million passengers in 2015, suggest 6 percent growth in 2016. The facility serves 40 airlines.
Meanwhile, officials have abandoned a plan to build a third runway at NAIA. A study conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency revealed that its construction might affect operations on the 12,260-ft-long main runway.
Aircraft operating domestic flights from Terminal 4 use the airport’s secondary runway, which extends 7,760 feet.
In a separate development, plans call for a $340 million expansion of CIA to start at the end of the year and finish in 2019. The expansion involves construction of a new passenger terminal and expansion of the apron.