Despite gloomy projections on the global aviation industry, the Clark International Airport’s new passenger terminal building will be operational by early next year.
“This Clark airport project is totally on schedule from conception to actual construction, and will be operational in six months. This facility is very important for us because it opens up the Central Luzon area to the international market. This will help passengers, especially from the Northern part of Luzon, access international flights in and out. This (project) is so critical for the development of the tourism and the national trade of Northern and Central Luzon,” said Carlos Dominguez III, finance secretary at the inspection of the terminal on July 15.
The new terminal is 99.14-percent complete. It is expected to triple the Clark airport’s annual passenger capacity to 12 million from four million.
Once fully operational, the new terminal will help position Clark as the next major global gateway in the country.
But the latest report of think tank Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) said as of July 12, nearly 60 percent of airports globally remain out of service.
CAPA said airport traffic and revenues around the world are projected to have full recovery to pre-COVID levels in five to 10 years, since the spread of corona virus grounded well over half of the world’s airline fleet.
“As markets open up, international routes will be last to recover fully. As international operations are the source of the bulk of airport revenue for many airports, clearly new initiatives will be necessary.” CAPA said.
The report said airports are confronted with continuing costs, mostly long term. Airports will also be obliged to incur added costs as anti-COVID measures are introduced, for example in response to social distancing and sanitising requirements.
“The impact of COVID-19 has been devastating for airlines. Many have become insolvent and in many cases governments have come to their rescue to help them tide over the period where they continue to burn cash, with negligible revenue.” CAPA said.
In turn, airports have suffered greatly — from the loss of aeronautical revenues, retail, food and beverage and car parking and others. But governments have been much more reluctant to provide support for airports, leaving them to recreate themselves in this new environment.
CAPA further said “even after a vaccination is found, in the best of scenarios it will be well into 2022 before there can be sufficient protection to give travellers and governments the comfort they need to stimulate regrowth. Then, with the combination of a global recession and an uneven return to international operations, it will take another three years to return to the traffic levels of 2019. That timeframe cannot be adequately forecast with any certainty – but offers a reasonably cautious planning guideline.”
According to CAPA’s latest projections, traffic levels could take several years to recover to 2019 levels. Many of the largest international travel markets are expected to recover to only 20 to 30 percent of last year’s capacity by the end of 2020.
Last month, Clark International Airport has resumed commercial operation after over two months flights suspension due to enhanced community quarantine in the country.
Operations remain limited as the government only allows essential travel. Leisure flights are still suspended.
