Dual airport system to solve congestion at NAIA – official

• Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2016/02/06/dual-airport-system-solve-congestion-naia-official-455866
• Saturday, February 6, 2016

By Reynaldo G. Navales

ANGELES CITY -- A former official of the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) said that the “dual airport system” will solve congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Alex Cauguiran, former CIAC executive vice president, said that the concept of a “dual airport system” should be the immediate response to the issue of heavy congestion at the NAIA.

Under the scheme, NAIA will be the airport of the South servicing southern Luzon --Region 5 (Bicol Region), Region IV-A or Calabarzon (Calamba, Laguna, Batangas Rizal, Quezon), and Southern National Capital Region (NCR) -- with a total catchment population of 27,219,325, according to Cauguiran.

Clark International Airport (CRK), on the other hand, will become the airport of the North servicing Northern Luzon - Region 1 (Ilocos Region); Region 2 (Cagayan Valley Region); Region 3 (Central Luzon); Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), and Northern NCR --- with a total catchment population of 22,399,003, he said.

Dual or multi-airport systems are already in place in Tokyo Japan (Narita and Haneda), Chicago Illinois (Midway, O’Hare and Rockford, and London (Gatwick, London, Luton, and Stansted), Cauguiran added.

The Partido Abe Kapampanga, a local political party headed by Cauguiran, recently presented to Senators Grace Poe and Chiz Escudero a four-point agenda for the development of Clark airport and decongestion of Metro Manila and NAIA.

The agenda includes legislating the NAIA-CRK Dual Airport System as a priority national policy and direct the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to establish and implement an Air Traffic Distribution Policy for Manila and Clark; legislating the non-imposition (or moratorium on the collection) of travel tax in all airports of the Philippines except NAIA; legislating exemption of Filipino airlines flying domestic routes (at all Philippine airports except NAIA) from payment of excise tax and value added tax on their aviation fuel; and directing the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Department of Health (DOH), and other government agencies to ensure that pre-employment procedures and services required of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are available near Clark airport (preferably under a One-Stop Government Center).

With this, Poe and Escudero filed at the Senate a resolution expressing support to the development of Clark International Airport under the four-pronged approach.

Appropriate committees of the Upper House are also urged “to look into the matter with the end view of enacting legislative measures to address the same.”

During her last visit in Angeles City, Poe vowed to work on the development of CRK including the construction of a railway system which will connect Subic and Clark to Metro Manila.