CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines — Cebu Air Inc. (CAI) and Clark Development Corp. (CDC) signed last Wednesday a lease agreement for the establishment of a world-class aviation training facility with a cost of at least P1.7 billion.

CDC President and CEO Felipe Antonio Remollo said the agreement he signed on behalf of the CDC with CAI President and CEO Lance Gokongwei is for a P1.77-billion project that will have a groundbreaking on January 24.

President Benigno S. Aquino III is expected to grace the affair, jumpstarting the development and construction of the pilots’ training center.

Gokongwei said CAI’s partner in developing the 9,147-square-meter facility which will train not only Filipino pilots but also those from other Asian countries is the Canadian Aviation Inc. (CAE). He said CAE is a world leader in aviation training.

This is CAI’s second major project at Clark and one that is expected to boost flight instruction and innovation of pilot training in the country.

Earlier, the airline executive launched from the Clark International Airport regular flights to Cebu and four major destinations in Southeast Asia.

Gokongwei said CAI chose this premier free port area for its second major project.

The training facility will be equipped with the innovation flight-training equipment that will serve Cebu Pacific and offer training services for other airlines, he said.

The project will be a flight academy for the Philippines’s leading aviation-carriers and one of the fastest-growing in the world, Cebu Pacific Air.

Gokongwei said Cebu Pacific Air has at least 500 pilots and will need 300 to 400 more in the next five years.

In the next 20 years, the Asia-Pacific region will need “about 70,000 pilots,” he said.