CLARK, Pampanga — Industry leaders are optimistic that the Air Asia’s new flights at the Clark International Airport (airport code: CRK) will further boost the region’s arts, culture and tourism development.
This stemmed from the latest domestic flights by Air Asia Philippines (AirAsia) that was launched Saturday, making CRK one of the busiest airports in the Philippines.
AirAsia, voted nine times as world’s best low cost carrier, launched flights to key cities – Iloilo, Tacloban and Puerto Princesa, giving rise to more opportunities not just for trade and commerce but also in arts and cultural exchanges
“We can have interactions for business, trade, products plus collaboration with different artists. There are lots of artists in Iloilo region,” Philip Torres said.
Torres is a leading fashion designer in Central Luzon. He was in the maiden flight of thrice weekly Clark-Iloilo route.
“We can promote our festivals, culinary, arts and culture. I can also source fabrics there,” he said.
He is known for his Pidayit, a fashionable clothing made from scraps or fragments of fabrics.
His designs were one of the sidelights in the ASEAN Summit held in the Philippines last year.
Gilda Padua, director of Greater Clark Visitors Bureau, also said that the flights would greatly help in the promotion of Pampanga and Clark.
“Clark flights provide additional destination for us. They provide connectivity. From Clark or Iloilo, you can take international destinations (onwards),” Padua said.
“We can push for Pampanga tourism in the region and vice versa. The flight is an opportunity for us to help promote our place,” she added.
On Saturday, AirAsia launched three additional fights to the Visayas region from CRK. These are Clark-Iloilo, Clark-Puerto Princesa with both flights on Tuesday-Thursday-Satarday and Clark-Tacloban (Monday-Wednesday-Friday).
Last year, AirAsia started Clark flights to Kalibo and Caticlan, also in Visayas and a route to Mindanao region via Davao City. It uses Airbus A320s.
Alex Cauguiran, president of CIAC, said that the additional flights of AirAsia bring to 434 the total flights per week at CRK.
Of these, 160 are regional and international flights. He added that the average daily flights number to 62.
In the Philippines, Cauguiran said, the archipelago was now connected to CRK.
“This airport in Mabalacat, Pampanga only had Cebu flights for its domestic service one year ago. Practically, Clark is now connected with almost every major cities in the country,” he added. (Marna Dagumboy Del Rosario/PNA) (photo courtesy of Philippine Flight Network)
