Diosdado Macapagal International Airport

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Diosdado Macapagal International Airport Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Diosdado Macapagal
IATA: CRK - ICAO: RPLC
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC)
Serves		Angeles City
Elevation AMSL		484 ft (148 m)
Coordinates		15°11′09″N, 120°33′37″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
02R/20L	10,499	3,200	Concrete
02L/20R	10,499	3,200	Concrete

1 History
2 Future plans
3 Airlines
4 References
5 External links

Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (Filipino: Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Diosdado Macapagal) (DMIA), also called Clark International Airport (IATA: CRK, ICAO: RPLC), is the main airport serving the immediate vicinity of the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) and the general area of Angeles City in the Philippines. Due to its proximity to Manila, the airport is often referred to as Manila-Clark^[1] or Clark-Manila^[2].

It is located on an area of the CSEZ formerly used as the airfield of the Clark Air Base, which was closed down in 1991 by the U.S. Air Force after the explosion of Mount Pinatubo, subsequently cleaned up, then reopened as the CSEZ.

The airport is a hub of Asian Spirit and South East Asian Airlines and serves as an alternate to its counterpart in Manila, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which was deemed by some of the airlines serving this airport to have higher landing fees.

The airport is managed by the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), a government-owned and/or controlled corporation.

[edit] History

For information on the history of the DMIA before the explosion of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 and the departure of U.S. forces from the Philippines, see the article on Clark Air Base.

After the cleanup of the base, which was covered in lahar after the Mount Pinatubo explosion and the typhoon that followed, the base was reopened in 1995 as the CSEZ.

During the administration of former Philippine President Fidel Ramos, the airport was designated to be the future primary international gateway of the Philippines and the only international airport of Manila and its neighboring provinces when Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila has reached full capacity and can no longer be expanded.

In the early 2000s, the airport was renamed by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the DMIA, in memory of her father, Diosdado Macapagal, the ninth Philippine president, who was a native of the province of Pampanga, where the airport is located.

[edit] Future plans

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This article or section contains information about a planned or expected expansion of an existing airport.

It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the airport expansion approaches, and as more information becomes available on it.

After ten years since the conception of the Clark International Airport Corporation and after conducting various master development plans for the airport in Clark, the CIAC Board finally approved a Master Plan for the development of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport. The plans are to expand and modernize the existing passenger terminal and turn it into a terminal for low cost airlines and soon to be the country's premier international gateway, making it Manila's Low Cost Airline Terminal and the fourth such terminal in Asia, after Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kota Kinabalu International Airport and Singapore Changi Airport.

There are also ambitious plans to construct a passenger terminal much bigger and more technologically advanced than Hong Kong International Airport's passenger terminal and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport's passenger terminal but smaller than Beijing Capital Airport Terminal 3. The airport project is similar to Hong Kong's Airport Core Programme.

The project includes and features:

Demolition of most airport structures except the existing passenger terminal.
Apron of the existing passenger terminal, and the two runways expansion and modernisation of the existing passenger terminal and its conversion into a Low Cost Airline Terminal.
The extension of the eastern runway to 4000 meters.
Construction of a y-shaped main passenger terminal building with 56 jetways (19 which are A380 ready) and a x-shaped satellite concourse with 28 jetways (12 which are A380 ready) and a new control tower in the midfield.
Construction of new taxiways and aprons.
Construction of a new runway.
Construction of a new cargo terminal complex.
Construction of an airport plaza which will house the wellwishers facility.
Construction of Management offices, business center and airport hotel and will also have a retail area.
Construction of a Ground Transportation Center (GTC) below the airport plaza which will house the Airport Railway station, the airport bus station, the taxi station and the car rentals.
Construction of an People Mover Automatic People Mover (APM) connecting the airport plaza and the GTC with the main passenger terminal and the satellite terminal
Construction of a new railway with 2 separate lines, one for the Airport Railway and another for the NorthRail commuter and high speed rail line serving Manila and the northern provinces of Luzon.
Construction of 2 interchanges from the Subic-Clark Expressway

Additional features:

Two parallel runways capable of NASA space shuttle landings (one of only three in world).
Facility can accommodate the A380 once completed.
Will be one of the largest airports in the Asia Pacific.

When completed, it will have:

84 Frontal Rontal Gates and
134 Remote Gates

Becoming one of the largest and most technologically advanced airport in Asia.

On 5 February 2007, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the Clark International Airport Corp. to hasten the P56.5-billion or $1.7-billion development of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport and the approval of $2-million study plan financed by Korean International Cooperation Agency.