PHILIPPINES
Manila Bulletin-July 5
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said yesterday that the government plans to reopen the mothballed Subic Bay International Airport within the first-semester of next year.
In a briefing, Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said there is an ongoing serious discussion between his department and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) for the planned revival of the Subic Bay airport.
“The Subic Bay Authority is appealing to us to revive its airport… [and] there is now an ongoing serious talk, and the way I see it, I think at the right time, it will be operational,” Tugade told reporters.
Asked when is that “right time,” Tugade responded “maybe it will not take up to the first quarter or second-quarter next year.
“If you give life to the airport, which has been inoperable for a number of years, number one you’re correct, you have to look at the structure, which is not a major problem. The problem there is the aviation instrument component,” the transpiration chief said.
Tugade noted that the airport’s radar system is already missing.
“You can’t just put an airport simply because an aircraft will land, but the consideration is if you put up an airport, aircraft will land on a safety basis so… you have to recognize the aviation instrumentation,” Tugade said.
The official, however, declined to provide the amount of investment needed to revive the Subic Bay airport.
In September, 2016, Tugade said they were studying a plan to revive the operation of Subic Bay airport, which served as a secondary gateway and used to be a main diversion airport of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The airport terminal, a 200-hectare aviation facility, was also used by Federal Express as a regional hub.
The facility can handle commercial or chartered aircraft operation, air cargo handling and warehousing, aircraft repair and maintenance and other general aviation businesses.
It features a 2,700-meter runway and a 10,000-square-meter passenger terminal that can handle 700 passengers.
Federal Express stopped its operations in 2009, after the courier giant moved its entire hub operations to Guangzhou, China.
Tugade said the government planned to build a dedicated rail system to connect Subic and Clark and promote the areas as modern logistic corridor.
