CLARK FREEPORT ZONE (CIAC-CCO, December 8, 2022)—The Department of Transportation recently tasked the Clark International Airport Corp. as its implementing arm to exercise oversight functions of the privately-run Clark International Airport.
This was revealed by CIAC officer-in-charge Darwin Cunanan in reference to a directive from Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista dated November 7, 2022 ordering CIAC to exercise “regulatory supervision and oversight of activities occurring within the Clark Civil Aviation Complex, including CRK.”
CRK is the code used by the International Air Transport Association for the Clark International Airport.
Bautista’s directive to Cunanan was also sent to Chairman Delfin Lorenzana and President Aileen Zosa of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, CIAC’s parent company.
“The DOTr gave CIAC the authority to represent the department in the functions of its administrative supervision over LIPAD’s airport operations, so we shall be working closely with LIPAD in ensuring that operations abide by international standards and other rules and regulations as provided for by the national government,” Cunanan said.
The DOTr is the agency which exercises policy and operational supervision over CIAC while the private consortium Luzon International Premier Airport Development Corp. (LIPAD) operates the Clark airport.
He added Secretary Bautista has directed the CIAC to “contribute to the overall efficiency of the Philippine air transportation system, and serve its role as an alternate airport.”
“As the national government’s aviation authority in Clark, we have been ordered to oversee the day-to-day operations of the airport simultaneous with our day-to-day management of aviation-related business activities within the civil aviation complex,” Cunanan said.
The DOTr further instructed the CIAC to “ensure that the airport facility is operated and maintained safely and securely by LIPAD in accordance with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) and the CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines) standards, and other airport safety and security related policies, rules and regulations.”
The Clark airport’s operations and maintenance were privatized in 2019 under the Duterte administration in a 25-year consortium agreement between the BCDA and LIPAD.
CIAC is host to the mixed-use commercial hub Clark Global City, and other locators engaged in manufacturing, information and technology, renewable energy, and other non-aviation-related industries.
