For decades, the sprawling 37-square-kilometer flatland in the heart of Pampanga was known simply as the Clark US Air Force Base, home to American pilots serving in the Pacific from 1903 to 1991.

Clark Air Base was completely evacuated beginning June 10, 1991 as a result of the cataclysmic Mount Pinatubo eruption. In November of the same year, the US government handover Clark Air Base to the Philippine government, ending 88 years of US military presence in the country the following month.

Today, with the military pilots long gone, the 2,500-hectare base has become an airport complex, which is one of the biggest in Asia with two 3.2-kilometer parallel runways. It is fast becoming a hub for regional budget airlines that flew in 533,000 passengers last year.

In place of squadrons of McDonnell Douglas F-4E "Phantom" jets and Northrop F-5E "Tiger" IIs are various wide- and narrow-bodied commercial aircraft such as Airbus 321 and Boeing 767, among others, that bring in an average of 2,000 passengers daily.

Clark’s runways can easily accommodate the new generation of large and wide-bodied aircraft such as the Boeing 777 and the double-decker Airbus 380, the biggest passenger airplane in the world, which landed there in October last year.

"The Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) citation as 2008 Airport of the Year was more geared towards the remarkable growth from just 7,000 passengers in the end of 2003 to 533,000 in 2007," explains Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) president and CEO Victor Jose I. Luciano.

"Whereas before, we just called them ‘chartered flights’. Now, we are catering to a wide sector," continues the top brass of CIAC that operates the DMIA. "We’re also becoming the ‘budget airline airport’ in the Philippines.

"Logically, airlines from Singapore and Malaysia should go to Southern Philippines," says Luciano, who was officially appointed president of CIAC by President Arroyo in September 2006 after handling the aviation sector of the Clark Freeport since 2003. "But, Clark is strategically located and is nearer to Metro Manila, and at the same time, to our kababayan (compatriots) from the North, where the main bulk of their OFW (passengers) come from."

Overseas Filipinos working in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the region could avail themselves of budget airlines’ US0 round trip air fare, which is less than 50 per cent of the regular fare, using brand new aircraft, and the same standard of safety is followed under the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) rules. The only thing missing is the frills on board like meals and drinks, for which the passengers have to pay.

"OFWs used to visit their loved ones here once a year or once every two years," says Luciano while giving a tour of DMIA’s about-to-be expanded passenger terminal prior to its inauguration last April 4. "Now, they come every three months—from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, and Hong Kong," he adds. "When you say OFWs, they include IT engineers, software makers, (and) those working in hotels overseas, including executives.

The US0-million passenger terminal 2 project, which will have passenger tubes, is expected to start by the middle of this year and be finished in late 2009. It will increase its terminal capacity to 7 to 8 million passengers yearly.

DMIA is also home to several other foreign air carriers such as Tiger Airways of Singapore, Air Asia of Malaysia, Asiana Airlines of South Korea, and China Southern Airlines of China. Hong Kong Express recently started its three-times-a-week open chartered flights from Clark to Hong Kong.

Last month, Asian Spirit Airlines, the first local carrier to operate out of DMIA, is slated to launch its five-times-a-week Incheon-Clark-Incheon flights to South Korea. Local carriers such as Southeast Asian Airlines (Seair) and Cebu Pacific Airways also operate in the DMIA. Clark has been the intra Asia hub of UPS, a major US air

cargo company since 2002. From three flights a week, it now has 15 flights using the narrow-bodied Boeing 757s and wide-bodied MD-11s.

The DMIA has been experiencing unprecedented growth in the past couple of years, with at least 60 commercial flights a week conducted by said foreign airlines.

"This year, the Philippines will sign the ‘Asian Plus 3 Single Sky’ (Southeast Asia plus 3—South Korea, China and Japan) agreement that will make air policy more liberal," explains Luciano. "Its potential target is 500 million passengers annually, that’s why all our international gateways, not only here at Clark, even the smaller ones, are expected to benefit from it. Initially, we’ll try capital-to-capital flights muna."

The Changi Airports International (CAI) of Singapore is seriously considering developing the DMIA in a bid to make it the Philippines’ premier gateway. Coinciding with the April 4 inauguration of the terminal 2 project, two agreements were also signed involving two multi-billion-peso logistics projects, comprising of a logistics park and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities.

Luciano signed a memorandum of agreement with Singapore Airlines Engineering Company (SIAEC) and Kuwait Gulf and Link of Kuwait. The latter will establish a global gateway logistics park, while the former will set-up a 0 million, ten-hectare MRO facility at DMIA. The MRO can handle various wide- and narrow-bodied aircraft, such as Airbus 380—currently the world’s largest passenger aircraft—the Airbus 300, and Boeing 747s and 777s, among others.

"We need a bigger airport as an alternative airport to Manila, which now has a total (capacity) of 18 million (10 million international and 8 million domestic)," explains the hardworking airport top executive. "Manila’s (passenger) overflow can be absorbed by Clark now that we have regular, non-stop shuttle buses from DMIA to Cubao in Quezon City, SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, and in downtown Manila, Pangasinan, and La Union, and vice versa," he continues. "Our next plan is to have express buses from Clark to Northeastern Luzon—to Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, and Cagayan Valley.

Gate Gourmet, one of the world’s largest in-flight catering services provider, in a joint project with Miascor, built the first ever in-flight catering services at the DMIA. The -million facility will produce 4,000 meals a day for air carriers flying to the DMIA.

Due to its stringent security measures, state-of-the-art support facilities for its local and international flights, like its brand new .3-million Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), its Emergency Services Equipment (ESE)—Crash, Fire, and Rescue Capability--got a near perfect rating of Category 9 (out of 10) from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The developments at the DMIA are in line with the President’s vision to establish a logistics and services hub in the Clark-Subic corridor, which is now connected by the P20.5-billion, 93.77-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), for the Asia Pacific Region, with the international airport in Clark and Subic as the site of a deep-sea port. Using the new route, Subic is just 30 minutes away from Clark.

"Becoming a hub means providing a lot of employment to our countrymen," says Luciano. "It will also open up other (international) airports in the country. (The number of) domestic travelers will grow—passengers coming from as far as Butuan City in Mindanao would leave and arrive from here," concludes Luciano. "The airport is the driver of the economy. As they say, it was Changi Airport that built Singapore."

With every regional budget and long-haul commercial airlines eyeing Clark as its hub in Asia, it won’t be long for the Philippine economy to really soar to greater heights because of its unique economic and tourism potentials.