MANILA – Sen. Richard Gordon proposed the reopening of the Subic Bay International Airport to decongest air traffic at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Reopening the Subic airport and diverting flights there and the Clark International Airport in Pampanga would help ease runway congestion at NAIA, Gordon claimed.
“There could be a good teamwork between Clark and Subic because they are only 30 to 45 minutes away from each other,” he said.
Passengers from Manila could take a ferryboat from Manila to Bataan, and then proceed by land to Clark or Subic, said Gordon.
The Subic airport stopped operating after Federal Express moved its Asia-Pacific hub to China in 2009.
Gordon made the comment on Sunday as he lamented that flight delays have economic implications. Specifically, they discourage investors and turn tourists off, he said.
The senator said he himself experienced this – on April 15, his flight to Istanbul got delayed for “more than one hour” at the runway “before we were given clearance to take off.”
“I was afraid we would miss our connecting flight in Istanbul,” he said.
Gordon said a “good international airport” is “essential to economic growth.”
“Tourism is the biggest victim of NAIA congestion because most of the tourists who visit us use NAIA as their gateway to the country,” he said./PN
