A congressional leader is calling on the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to transfer half of all flights landing at or taking off from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to the Clark International Airport in Pampanga.
House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan said transferring 50 percent of the flights to Clark will be a practical move to avoid the inconvenience caused by the January 1 air traffic fiasco at NAIA, which affected over 350 flights.
“Assuming all flights are divided evenly between NAIA and Clark by 2025, only half of all flights would be cancelled, diverted or delayed in the event of a sudden emergency in either gateway,” Libanan said in a statement.
“If NAIA has another air traffic system glitch, or if a large aircraft suddenly has a runway excursion there, only 50% of all flights would be disrupted once the other 50% is already operating out of Clark,” he added.
Libanan said Clark airport will only be fully utilized if more flights take off from and land at it.
“If we do not take full advantage of Clark as alternate gateway, there will be chaos at NAIA once global air travel explodes,” Libanan added.
