Deja vu

BUSINESSLIKE BUT not dour. In fact, they’re all smiles. That’s the photograph the Clark International Airport Corp. issued Wednesday of its still-OIC head signing a memorandum of agreement with the top brass of Philippine Airlines.

The caption said it all: “CIAC Acting President and CEO Alexander Cauguiran signs a memorandum of agreement with Philippine Airlines officials Stewart Lim, executive VP, treasurer and chief administrative officer; president and COO Jaime Bautista; PAL Express president Bonifacio Sam; and senior VP for airline operations Ismael Augusto Gozon at the PAL corporate headquarters in Pasay City specifying the commitments of both entities for the operation of domestic and international flights by the flag-carrier from the Clark International Airport (CRK) in Pampanga. The first of these flights, a daily flight to Caticlan from Clark, will start on Friday, December 16. Flights to Cebu, Davao, Cagayan and Incheon, South Korea will follow in the first quarter of next year.”

Wowoweeee!

Everybody hereabouts is celebrating. But not me.

Have not only heard of but even been part of this exhilaration that always comes with the happy news of increasing flights at Clark. Only to crash in disappointment, not so soon though thereafter.

So, PAL is flying Clark-Caticlan-Clark this Friday, Dec. 16.

Yeah, some portent to come in the timing there which is but a day to the very day this following piece appeared here three short years ago: Clark’s roar.   

TIGERAIR PHILIPPINES starts today, Dec. 17, 2013, its thrice weekly Clark-Davao flights.

Reopening the route AirAsia Phil accessed on March 29, 2012, only to abandon in October this year.

This coming and going was foremost in the collective media mindset at Friday’s launch of this newest ticket at the Clark International Airport. Having been there in all the maiden flights of AirAsia Phil to both domestic and regional destinations, hearing – and feeling – its advocacy for the CIA as “most ideal” gateway.

“Clark International Airport is a vital location for our operations, especially in our flights in the Asia-Pacific region, and we intend to expand our presence in the area,” Tigerair Phil President Olive Ramos declared.

Qualified the lady boss: “Tigerair will maximize its presence in Clark and as a hub for its flights because of its ideal location. Unlike the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila, it is not as busy and congested.”

And then some more: “Operating in Clark offers many incentives, such like the fuel is tax free, and fuel is 60 percent to 70 percent of the cost of operating carriers, that’s why it is cheaper to fly out of Clark.”

Capped with the come-on: “With these flight, travellers from Northern and Central Luzon no longer need to drive all the way to Metro Manila to take their flights to these destinations.”

Haven’t we heard all these before? 

Actually, a recurring refrain in all of AirAsia Phil’s maiden flights – Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, Davao, Puerto Princesa and Kalibo too – alas, all gone.

Virtually verbatim at the Emirates’ daily Dubai-Clark-Dubai launch last October 1. Which moved Business Mirror’s Joey Pavia to ask, rather pointedly, Mohammed Mattar, Emirates divisional senior vice president: “How deep is your pocket? Will you not pull out (of Clark) once your planes fly way below their passenger capacities?”    

Rather than a straight answer, we heard Mr. Mattar tell the story of Emirates’ maiden flight to Mumbai with only five passengers and the low, low pax volume in the succeeding flights, only to culminate to the now fully booked, five-times-daily Dubai-Mumbai flights.  

"We are sure that we will do good in Clark after many studies in the market. We are not worried and we will do good here in Clark just like in Manila." So was Mr, Mattar quoted in news reports then.

While, far from fully-packed, the Clark-Dubai flight has markedly risen in capacity, and is expected to increase some more, with the holiday seasons.

Why, our family has been rather busy lately with arriving relatives from Saudi Arabia at Clark via Dubai.

Faced with the same Pavia poser, Tigerair’s Madame Olive did a Mattar: “We are here to stay. Focused as we are on what the people of Central and Northern Luzon need and want.”

Not only to stay – if we may give our one-way ticket’s worth – but to grow. As indeed Tigerair has – the Singapore-flagged parent company opening at Clark with daily flight to the “fine” city-state, then veritably absorbing Seair, evolving into its present corporate body with expanded reach to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kalibo, and now Davao, seeking to reach further in 2014 to Incheon and Tokyo.

What mighty roar there. So that when Clark International Airport Corp. President-CEO Victor Jose Luciano was asked how viable has Clark remained in the wake of AirAsia Phil’s pull-out, his snap-of-the-finger answer: “Take a look at Tigerair.”

Yeah, right there is the new poster boy for the Clark airport.

ONLY, IN but a few months thereafter, there was no Tigerair to look at around Clark. After its absorption by Cebu Pacific Air, Tigerair Phil ceased all its operations in then-Luciano’s now-Cauguiran’s airport.

We do remember too that after so much pronouncements of bullishness, PAL Express, then called Airphil Express, did indeed put up some flights at Clark. Only to silently slip away in less than a year.

Still here’s hoping against hope that this time PAL’s flights at Clark will take longer spans, if not for keeps.

But sorry, I just can’t put down my guarded pessimism, having been burned so many times. Count now airlines that have come to and gone from Clark – Asian Spirit, Zest Air, Seair, Emirates, AirAsia Phil, AirAsia Berhad, Airphil Express, Tigerair.