CLARK FREEPORT – Exactly three months after Jetstar announced plans to service Clark International Airport, the airline will launch its Clark-Singapore maiden flight on Nov. 28, airport officials said Sunday.
A brief ceremony scheduled at the Park Inn Hotel will have some airport, airline and local officials gracing the event, among them Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, Barathan Pasupathi, Jetstar Asia CEO; and Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) President Alexander Cauguiran.
Pasupathi said the CRK-Singapore route will be the airline’s first service from Clark, considered as the complementary gateway to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
“Filipinos working in Singapore along with their family members will be able to travel on Asia’s best budget carrier,” Pasupathi added.
Francis Loi, Jetstar head of marketing, said Clark is underserved by aviation links to cover the 12 million passengers, particularly the overseas Filipino workers from Central Luzon.
“We are bringing our services to Central Luzon and Northern Luzon to provide more options for the community,” said Loi in his speech at the Jetstar’s launch at the CRK departure area.
The low-cost airline will start servicing CRK by November 28 and will be regularly flying out of Clark to Singapore every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
The budget carrier first took to the skies in December 2004 and currently operates more than 600 weekly return flights to 25 destinations across 13 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region.
The airline was recognized as the top budget airline in a 2017 travel poll by smartttravelasia.com which surveyed more than 30,000 frequent travellers from Asia, China, US and Europe. It was also listed as one of the top 10 safest low-cost airlines in the world in 2017 by airlineratings.com
“Low fares travel in the Philippines is booming, and these additional services give another option for direct services to Singapore, Southeast Asia and beyond,” Pasupathi said.
The airline executive said their new route will provide more than 410,000 seats a year in total capacity between the Philippines and Singapore.
CIAC President and CEO Cauguiran welcomed this development: “Jetstar’s decision to mount flights at Clark is in recognition of the latter’s marketability and the increasing number of the airport’s local destinations.
Cauguiran added, “The (CRK-Singapore) flights will definitely boost our operations as we are looking at more travellers who may now choose Clark to fly Jetstar.”