Diosdado Macapagal International Airport
Diosdado Macapagal International Airport or
DMIA, also called
Clark International Airport , is the main airport serving the immediate vicinity of the
Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) and the general area of
Angeles City in the
Philippines.
It is located on an area of the CSEZ formerly used as the airfield of the
Clark Air Base, which was closed down in
1991 by the
U.S. Air Force after the explosion of
Mount Pinatubo, subsequently cleaned up, then reopened as the CSEZ.
The airport is a hub of
Asian Spirit and
South East Asian Airlines and serves as an alternate to its counterpart in
Manila,
Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which was deemed by some of the airlines serving this airport to have higher landing fees.
The airport is managed by the
Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), a government-owned and/or controlled corporation.
For information on the history of the DMIA before the explosion of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 and the departure of U.S. forces from the Philippines, see the article on Clark Air Base.After the cleanup of the base, which was covered in
lahar after the Mount Pinatubo explosion and the
typhoon that followed, the base was reopened in
1995 as the CSEZ.
During the administration of former Philippine President
Fidel Ramos, the airport was designated to be the future primary international gateway of the Philippines and the only international airport of
Manila and its neighboring provinces when
Ninoy Aquino International Airport in
Metro Manila has reached full capacity and can no longer be expanded.
In the early 2000s, the airport was renamed by Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the DMIA, in memory of her father,
Diosdado Macapagal, the ninth Philippine president, who was a native of the province of
Pampanga, where the airport is located.
|
The Master Plan of Diosdado Macapagal International Airport |
Today there are plans to expand and modernise the existing passenger terminal and turn it into a terminal for low cost airlines, making it Manila's Low Cost Airline Terminal and the third such terminal in Asia, after
Kuala Lumpur International Airport and
Singapore Changi Airport . There are also ambitious plans to construct a passenger terminal much bigger and more technologically advanced than
Hong Kong International Airport's passenger terminal and
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport's passenger terminal but smaller than Beijing Capital Airport Terminal 3. The airport project is similar to Hong Kong's Airport Core Programme. The project includes: demolition of most airport structures except the existing passenger terminal, apron of the existing passenger terminal, and the two runways; expansion and modernisation of the existing passenger terminal and its conversion into a Low Cost Airline Terminal, the extension of the eastern runway to 4000 meters; construction of a y-shaped main passenger terminal building with 56 jetways(19 which are A380 ready) and a x-shaped satellite concourse wih 28 jetways(12 which are A380 ready) and a new control tower in the midfield; construction of new taxiways and aprons; construction of a new runway; construction of a new
cargo terminal; construction of an airport plaza which will house the wellwishers facility, management offices, business center and airport hotel and will also have a retail area; construction of a Ground Transportation Center(GTC) below the airport plaza which will house the Airport Railway station, the airport bus station, the taxi station and the car rentals; construction of an
Automatic People Mover(APM) connecting the airport plaza and the GTC with the main passenger terminal and the satellite terminal; and a new railway with 2 separate lines, one for the Airport Railway and another for the commuter and high speed rail line serving Manila and the northern provinces of Luzon. When completed, it will have 84 frontal gates and 134 remote gates, becoming one of the largest and most technologically advanced airport in Asia.
The following airlines serve the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (as of January 2006):
*
AirAsia (Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur)
*
Asiana Airlines (Seoul-Incheon)
*
CR Airways (Hong Kong)
*
South East Asian Airlines (Cebu, Malay, Manila)
*
Tiger Airways (Macau, Singapore)
Former airlines
*
Asian Spirit*
Cebu PacificThe airport is also the intra-Asian hub of the
United Parcel Service or UPS.
*
Diosdado Macapagal International Airport*
Clark Development Corporation
