The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is open to proposal that some flights be transferred to the Clark International Airport (CIA) (formerly Diosdado Macapagal Airport) unless there is an official endorsement from any government agency.
Neda finally spoke about the issue due to the snowballing calls to proceed with the plan coming from various sectors, especially businessmen and frequent flyers.
Complaints about delays in airlines’ takeoff and landing at NAIA have been reverberating and serves as irritant to the national government in its aim to attract more tourists and investors.    
In a thorough research conducted, it was found out that a certain group, the Center for Strategic Initiatives (CSI), a private think tank, has been advocating the transfer of some flights to the CIA for some years now.
Contacted by The Daily Tribune, CSI president Renato Diaz said his group has sent numerous open letters to President Aquino explaining that some international flights need to be diverted somewhere because NAIA has become too congested as early as 2005 because of the proliferation of airlines that land and depart from it.    
“Remember there are now six scheduled airlines and the volume of air passengers from 2004 has quadrupled. Those who use to board ships to Masbate, Leyte, Cagayan or Samar are now travelling by plane,” Diaz, former chairman of the House ways and means committee and member of Civil Aeronautics Board from 2008 to 2010 representing the private sector, told the The Tribune.        
Diaz said once Clark is utilized as NAIA “extension,” the Philippines can be considered having two international airports — the Manila South International Airport (NAIA) and Manila North International Airport (CIA).
Neda deputy director general Rolando Tungpalan told The Tribune that as of the moment,  not a single paper has reached their office to officially begin the proceedings of transferring some flights 85 kilometers north of Metro Manila.
“As of this time, we haven’t received any proposal. If there’s any, we would be glad to endorse it to the Neda Board,” Tungpalan said. The chairman of the Neda Board is President Aquino.    
The board is the body of the agency that approves or disapproves any proposal that requires government to spend more than P500 million. If the proposal requires funding below that amount, only the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) needs to approve it.          
Tungpalan said if ever there are structures needed to transfer some flights to Clark, it will be handled by the private-public partnership (PPP).
Clark’s runway is about four times the length of NAIA, thus the delays in the departure and landing of airlines will be surely addressed.  
Even airline stakeholders back the transfer of some international flights to CIA because there are now 16 million international travelers a year that NAIA cannot accommodate.
“We will be able to attract more investors and tourists if we have an airport that will not irk passengers. Clark is there so why not use it?” asked Avelino Zapanta, president of Southeast Airlines.       
A check at the PPP Web site revealed that of the 16 projects worth P160 billion lined up until 2016, no proposal pertains about the transfer of flights to CIA.