FDC recently committed to its first investment in infrastructure with its participation in the North Luzon Airport Consortium, which won the bid to operate and maintain Clark International Airport. FDC is the lead consortium member, with a 42.5% stake in the recently incorporated Luzon International Premier Airport Development Corporation (LIPAD). LIPAD, whose other owners include JG Summit, Changi Airports Philippines (I) Pte., Ltd. and Philippine Airport Ground Support Solutions, Inc., recently signed a 25-year agreement to develop commercial assets, operate and maintain project facilities and fit-out the new terminal in the Clark International Airport.
The 76% increase in 2018 passenger traffic over the previous year even without the new terminal in place demonstrates robust passenger growth for this premier regional airport. Aside from servicing its own catchment area of Central Luzon with a population of 11 million, it serves as a backup to the two-runway premier gateway of the country, Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Central Luzon experienced a 9.3%1 growth in GDP in 2017 making it the second most progressive region in terms of economic development. Plans are underway for the airport to be linked by rail from Metro Manila with Phase 1 expected to be completed in 2021.
As part of the group’s continued expansion. FDC, together with seven of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates, formed a “superconsortium” in 2017 that submitted an unsolicited bid to transform the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) into a regional airport hub and ensure that NAIA has the capacity to meet continued growth in passenger traffic in and out of the growing economies of the Philippines and region. The NAIA consortium, as it is informally known, was recently awarded “original proponent status” by the Department of Transportation.
