Singapore Airshow

Clark International Airport targeting aerospace companies at Singapore Airshow

The Philippines has launched a campaign encouraging global aerospace companies to establish facilities at Clark International Airport to serve the Asia region and global market.

The Philippine Department of Transportation (DOTr), the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) have come together at this week's Singapore Airshow to speak with MROs, FBOs, OEMs, business aviation and aerospace companies, together with airlines, cargo, logistics and training organisations.

Berthaphil Inc, a key stakeholder and pioneer investor and developer in the Clark Freeport and at Clark International Airport, is also part of the Philippine Aviation Pavilion.

The company is offering a vacant 10-hectare airfield site, with primary runway access, which is immediately available ‘as is’ or for a build-to-suit project. Berthaphil is now actively promoting this site to aerospace companies around the world.

Clark International Airport is within the Clark Freeport trade zone, so businesses there can receive incentives and favourable tax concessions - up to a 7-year tax holiday and then a 5% corporate income tax rate.

Jaime Bautista Secretary of Transportation DOTr alongside other partner organisations.

Clark International is an international gateway to Asia and capable of handling the largest widebody aircraft. The airport has a 3,200m-long (10,500 ft) and 60m-wide (196 ft) primary runway. It also has the tallest air traffic control tower and the newest international airport terminal building in the Philippines with capacity of up to 80 million passengers per year.

The airport is 43.2 nautical miles (80.0 km; 49.7 miles) northwest of Manila, and is accessible to Manila via the Northern Luzon Expressway (NLEX). A new passenger and cargo rail system is due to open in 2025.

“Besides world-class airport infrastructure, a strategic location within Asia’s burgeoning aviation market and a favourable business environment; another key strength of Clark International Airport as an aerospace centre, is the Philippines’ skilled and qualified workforce,” says Berthaphil Inc chairman, Michael Herman.

“Building a hangar, for example, doesn’t mean you have a MRO business. The key to having a successful MRO organisation is having the skilled and qualified maintenance engineers and technicians, which is what the Philippines has,” says Herman.

“It is no secret that many of the qualified maintenance engineers and technicians working in places such as Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East are Filipinos. Any aerospace company that establishes itself at Clark has a huge pool of internationally certified talent it can draw up both locally and from overseas,” he adds.

MRO organizations that have already established operations at Clark include SIA Engineering, which does airframe maintenance there. There is also Hong Kong’s MetroJet which maintains business jets at Clark. And, it is a global gateway for UPS, DHL and FedEx.