Qatar Airways to start daily Doha-Clark route

It’s all systems go for the start of daily flights of Qatar Airways via Doha- Clark-Doha on October 28, 2013 that will connect Clark International Airport to more than 100 international destinations in the world.

Qatar Airways, a Five- Star airline in the Middle East will establish the daily Doha- Clark route using Clark Airport as their second gateway in the Philippines.

Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) President and CEO Victor Jose I. Luciano said that “the entry of Qatar Airways is again a manifestation of confidence of Middle East carriers to operate international flights at Clark airport.”

“They (Qatar Airways) see the potentials of Clark airport of becoming another gateway to the world especially in the Middle East, and Europe.”

Luciano said “Clark is a global feed of tourists and visitors all over the world, which is why the entry of Qatar Airways is again a big boosts to the tourism industry of the country.”

He said that the Middle East flights at Clark Airport will boosts the program of the government of attracting more tourists to visit the country, after the Department of Tourism (DOT) is targeting at least 10 million tourists by 2016.

Luciano also emphasized the importance of the Middle East flights at Clark airport saying that it will connect Northern and Central Luzon to the rest of the world, “passengers from the North and Central Luzon will instead use Clark Airport to fly to Qatar.”

He also said that Overseas Filipino Workers from the North and Central Luzon will benefit to these Middle East flights using Clark Airport as their gateway.

There are at least 10 million overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East mostly residing in the North of the Philippines.

Qatar Airways will utilize Airbus A330- 300 for their Doha- Clark- Doha flights at Clark Airport. The aircraft’s capacity is about 305 passengers.

Qatar Airways is a state-owned flag carrier of Qatar based in the Qatar Headquarters in Doha. It operates a hub and spoke network linking 100 international destinations from its base in Doha, using a fleet of more than 100 aircrafts.

Qatar operates in Africa, Central Asia, Europe, Far East, South Asia, Middle East, North America, South America and Oceania. In 2011 and 2012, Qatar Airways was named “Airline of the Year” by the Skytrax World Airline Award.

Last October 1, Emirates Airlines launched their nonstop daily flights Dubai- Clark-Dubai route at the 2,367 hectare Clark Civil Aviation Complex in Clark Freeport Zone Pampanga. Emirates had vowed to attract one million passengers for Clark Airport.

Clark Airport registered 1.3 million passengers in 2012 as compared to the previous years of 500,000 to 600,000 passengers annually.

Among the airlines operating out of Clark are Air Asia Berhad of Malaysia, Asiana Airlines and Jin Air of South Korea, Cebu Pacific Air, Tiger Airways Philippines, Dragonair and Emirates Airlines.