Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade on Wednesday ordered the start of operations of  the new passenger terminal in Clark International Airport by January 2021. 

The new passenger terminal building would triple the current passenger capacity of CRK from 4.2 million to 12.2 million passengers annually.

The expansion project is a part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s regional development plan for North and Central Luzon which complements big-ticket projects such as the New Clark City, the Subic-Clark Cargo Railway and the North-South Commuter Railway that will connect Clark to Manila and to Calamba, Laguna.

Megawide-GMR won the bidding for the construction of a new passenger terminal when it submitted the lowest financial proposal of P9.36 billion on Dec. 14, 2018.

Clark International Airport is the second main gateway in Luzon. The new 100,000-square-meter terminal will double its capacity to eight million passengers a year, easing the strain on Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City and boosting the development of Central Luzon.

Airlines operating in Clark include Qatar Airways, Cebu Pacific, Tigerair, Jin Air, Asiana Airlines, Dragon Air, AirAsia Berhad, Philippine Airlines and Emirates Airlines.

These airlines mount flights to Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Macau, Pudong, Incheon, Doha, Dubai, Davao, Cebu and Kalibo.

Luzon  International Premier Airport Development Corp., formerly known  North Luzon Airport Consortium, earlier signed a 25-year concession agreement with state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority for the operations and maintenance of Clark International Airport.

LIPAD consists of Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc., Philippine Airport Ground Support Solutions Inc. and Changi Airports Philippines Pte. Ltd.