Malaysia’s AirAsia Group teamed up with Indonesia ’s state airport operator to bid for the 25-year operation and maintenance contract of Clark International Airport in Pampanga province.
Dexter Comendador, chief executive of Air Asia Philippines, said his group joined forces with Indonesia’s PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II) to jointly bid for the Clark airport O&M project.
AP II operates 14 airports in Indonesia including Soekarno-Hatta (Jakarta) Airport, Halim Perdanakusuma (Jakarta), Kualanamu (Medan), Supadio (Pontianak), Minangkabau (Padang), Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II (Palembang), Sultan Syarif Kasim II (Pekanbaru), Husein Sastranegara (Bandung), Sultan Iskandarmuda (Banda Aceh), Raja Haji Fisabilillah (Tanjungpinang), Sultan Thaha (Jambi), Depati Amir (Pangkal Pinang) and Silangit (Tapanuli Utara), Banyuwangi (Jawa Timur).
“We’re just a small part of the consortium,” Comendador said.
Air Asia Philippines resumed operations at Clark in March last year, after it stopped all flights in late 2013.
Besides AirAsia, other groups that bought bid documents for Clark Airport O&M project were Megawide-GMR Consortium, Metro Pacific Investment Corp., Filinvest Development Corp., San Miguel Holdings Corp., Prime Assets Venture, Central Luzon Infrastructure Consultancy Inc. Consortium, GVK Airport Developers Ltd. and Groupe ADP.
Megawide-GMR earlier won the bidding for the construction of a new passenger terminal in Clark Airport, when it submitted the lowest financial proposal of P9.36 billion on Dec. 14 last year.
Clark International Airport’s new terminal building is envisioned to accommodate an additional 8 million passengers per annum. The expansion project also involves the construction and installation of all required associated facilities”•both landside and airside to support operations of the new terminal.
The airport currently has an annual capacity of four million passengers. 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.