Subic Airport discussion at the Subic Bulletin
Still A Chance For Subic Airport?
Comment from a reader on the post "Why Is FedEx Routing Through Clark?"
In 2010 the U.S. military is beginning a massive, 15 billion dollar, military buildup on Guam. Thirty thousand Filipino construction workers, mostly from the Olongapo-Zambales area, will be drawn to Guam to work on this project. Mayor Gordon, SBMA, and the SBCC should urge Spirit of Manila Airlines, a new airline serving OFWs, to establish direct flights from Subic Bay International Airport to Guam to serve this population of OFWs.
The Subic Bulletin: We admire your forward thinking but keeping the airport open even one year without any customers would likely to be impossible. Keep reading over the next week we will collect some data on the status of the airport and reveal it here on The Subic Bulletin.
Can SBMA Market The Subic Airport?
Comment from a reader on "Still A Chance For Subic Airport?":
An air route between Guam and Subic Bay International Airport might initially serve OFWs engaged in the military construction on Guam, but once established, it could serve as the bottom leg of triangle flights from Korea and Japan serving divers and golfers, allowing them to sample these pursuits in the two locations on one trip, without subjecting them to the grittiness of Manila.
Mayor Gordon has already initiated a possible sister-city relationship with Guam. SBMA and the City of Olongapo should get with Spirit of Manila Airlines immediately to get these flights up and running.
[The Subic Bulletin] We like your thinking, but given the landing fees are so high that even FedEx would rather land at Clark http://thesubicbulletin.blogspot.com/2009/05/future-of-subic-airport.html , getting a small commercial airline to pay exorbitant landing fees and help keep the ILS running seems impossible unless SBMA can re-engineer their approach.
The Future of Subic Airport
Comment from a reader on the post "Why Is FedEx Routing Through Clark?"
In 2010 the U.S. military is beginning a massive, 15 billion dollar, military buildup on Guam. Thirty thousand Filipino construction workers, mostly from the Olongapo-Zambales area, will be drawn to Guam to work on this project. Mayor Gordon, SBMA, and the SBCC should urge Spirit of Manila Airlines, a new airline serving OFWs, to establish direct flights from Subic Bay International Airport to Guam to serve this population of OFWs.
The Subic Bulletin: We admire your forward thinking but keeping the airport open even one year without any customers would likely to be impossible. Keep reading over the next week we will collect some data on the status of the airport and reveal it here on The Subic Bulletin.
Can SBMA Market The Subic Airport?
Comment from a reader on "Still A Chance For Subic Airport?":
An air route between Guam and Subic Bay International Airport might initially serve OFWs engaged in the military construction on Guam, but once established, it could serve as the bottom leg of triangle flights from Korea and Japan serving divers and golfers, allowing them to sample these pursuits in the two locations on one trip, without subjecting them to the grittiness of Manila.
Mayor Gordon has already initiated a possible sister-city relationship with Guam. SBMA and the City of Olongapo should get with Spirit of Manila Airlines immediately to get these flights up and running.
[The Subic Bulletin] We like your thinking, but given the landing fees are so high that even FedEx would rather land at Clark http://thesubicbulletin.blogspot.com/2009/05/future-of-subic-airport.html , getting a small commercial airline to pay exorbitant landing fees and help keep the ILS running seems impossible unless SBMA can re-engineer their approach.
The Future of Subic Airport
The Subic Bulletin has done some investigation on the future of Subic Airport and this is what we have been able to uncover so far:
FedEx is not using Clark as a loading or unloading point, this was a mistaken observation of a reader. There is only two FedEx flights landing at Clark each day and they don’t even take on fuel, this is because flights are not permitted to travel directly between Taiwan and China for political reasons. Flights between these countries have to go somewhere, anywhere, when flying between the two countries. I believe the pilots just get out and kick the tires before continuing on their journey.
The Subic International Airport is still being kept alive by FedEx, they still have a team there just in case something goes wrong in China, they could then bring flights back to the old Subic hub, The Subic Bulletin was told that this "insurance policy" costs FedEx about USD$115,000 per month and will be discontinued at the end of the year.
So I hear you ask why does that China-Taiwan flight land in Clark when FedEx is still keeping Subic alive, the bottom line is that Clark has cheaper landing fees making a “technical stop” (without using services) in Clark much more appealing to FedEx. Once again greed and poor negotiation leaves Subic on the side lines.
So what about the future of our much loved Subic Airport?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but when FedEx makes its final withdrawal in December this year there will no longer be any justification for running the ILS (Instrument Landing System) and without it there will be no more chance of commercial flights landing in Subic.
The ILS in Subic is very old and when it is powered down its unlikely that you would ever get it back into service. Given that SBMA can't even fix a set of traffic lights, the ILS has no hope.
It would seem that SBMA is remaining quiet on the airport issue because it is a ticking time bomb, if they can’t court a rich investor/operator to use the airport for commercial purposes before the end of this year the airport will probably be auctioned off to Koreans for another gaudy development to scar the bay.
But how could SBMA court a new investor when their commercial capabilities are so inept that they can’t even get our old friend FedEx to land one or two planes a day? Seems we can only pray for a miracle.
Comments