Kuwaiti sheik checks Clark airport prospects

By Tonette Orejas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:18:00 03/05/2008

Reference : http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080305-122819/K...

CLARK FREEPORT, Philippines—The sheik of Kuwait, Loay Jassim Al-Kharafi, visited the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here last week to check investment prospects at the aviation complex.

“I think the [Southeast Asian] region will be booming because of the upgrading of the [DMIA] to serve the people of this country,” Al-Kharafi said in a statement released by state-owned Clark International Airport Corp.

Al-Kharafi is vice president of the Kharafi group of companies and chairs Kuwait Pipe Industries and Oil Services Co.

Clark International Airport president and chief executive officer Victor Jose Luciano briefed Al-Kharafi on the ongoing projects at the DMIA, particularly an international gateway project that aims to serve 10 million passengers a year.

The projects are covered by a master development plan for the 2,500-hectare aviation complex left by the United States Air Force in 1990 and now part of a special economic zone.

Luciano expressed hope that Kuwaiti investors would consider the DMIA in their global projects, especially in airport development.

He aid more foreign and domestic airlines were expected to soon operate at the DMIA once President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signs an executive order to further liberalize the air industry in Clark and at the Subic Bay Freeport, northwest of Manila.