Clark International Airport (CRK) breached the 2.5 million passenger mark on December 17, the highest passenger traffic in the airport’s 23 years of operations.
Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president Jaime Melo in a statement said that as of 7:58 p.m. of December 17, CRK’s passenger traffic reached a total of 2,500,052 passengers.
Melo said this all-time high record was reached via Emirates Flight No. EK338 bound for Dubai. By December 31, CRK expects to tally in a total of 2,611,362 passengers.
“What was once relegated as just a dream for CRK is now working in full throttle. Since President Rodrigo Duterte called for the greater utilization of Clark airport in 2016, CIAC was able to increase flights and passenger volume and profitability has also improved commensurately, a huge improvement from three to five years ago with more airlines signifying to mount flights,” Melo said in a statement.
The average daily passenger volume at the North Luzon hub is 8,000, served by a total of 656 weekly flights, 202 of which are international flights while the remaining 454 are domestic flights.
Also this year, CRK tallied a total of 242,840 passengers from May 1 to 31―the highest monthly total number of passengers recorded while the biggest number of travelers served in just one day was last May 26 with 8,662 passengers.
“The dream has further come to reality now that a new terminal building will be operational by 2020 and able to accommodate an additional 8 million passengers per annum,” Melo said.
By the end of 2022, CIAC targets having 4.457 million passengers flying via CRK.
International destinations from CRK include Doha and Dubai in the Middle East, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Taipeis and Singapore, while negotiations are ongoing for airlines to mount Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur flights.
The airport is also connected to major domestic destinations including Cebu, Boracay, Bacolod, Davao, and Palawan.
