New local carrier picks Clark as base

By Tonette Orejas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:01:00 08/22/2009

CLARK FREEPORT — FIVE months ahead of its operations to serve the Taiwan, Macau and Middle East routes, Spirit of Manila Airlines unveiled here recently its MD-83 plane.

Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Clark International Airport Corp. president Victor Jose Luciano led the rites at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark.

The MD-83 will be used for the Clark-Taiwan flights, Luciano said.

The firm will complete its Clark fleet—another MD-83, Boeing 747-300 and 747-400—by November, he said.

The Middle East flights to Qatar, Dubai, Bahrain and Kuwait aim to serve overseas Filipino workers in Northern and Central Luzon and draw in more tourists to the four regions north of Metro Manila.

Luciano said Spirit of Manila Airlines was the “first large local carrier” to set up base at the DMIA, a 2,500-hectare airport left by the United States military in 1991.

This is the first time that a Clark-based air carrier will serve the Clark-Taiwan route, a move that then President Fidel Ramos had been advocating since 1993, Luciano said.

Mendoza said the firm’s entry would boost local tourism and serve OFWs.

The airport hosts cargo forwarder UPS, Asiana Airlines and domestic and international budget carriers like Cebu Pacific.

Singapore Airlines and Cebu Pacific have partnered to build an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at the DMIA.