DMIA joins big league with in-flight catering
27 November 2007

A world-class $3 million in-flight catering service facility that will prepare 4,000 meals per day will soon rise up at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in anticipation of the increase in long-haul flights.
Gate Gourmet, one of the world’s largest in-flight catering service in a joint venture with Miascor broke ground recently for the establishment of the first ever in-flight catering service inside the sprawling Clark civil aviation complex.
Gate Gourmet-Miascor will cater the food services for air carriers plying the Clark route. The facility will occupy an initial 3,000 square meters of land near the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) corporate headquarters.
The ceremonial groundbreaking was led by CIAC Executive Vice President Alexander Cauguiran, Clark Development Corporation President Liberato Laus, Mark Wall President of the Gate Gourmet for Asia Pacific Region, Peter Andrist Vice President for Business Development, Lars Fredrick Larsen general manager of Gate Gourmet, CIAC Vice President for Operations and DMIA General Manager Bienvenido Manga and CIAC Vice President for Business Development Romeo Dyoco.
Miascor Director Jovino Lorenzo Jr., said the facility will produce about 4,000 meals per day to cater to the needs of air carriers flying into DMIA, which is being geared as the next premier international gateway in the country.
According to Lorenzo, Miascor and Gate gourmet is a joint venture project to establish the first ever in-flight catering service which a vital component for the development of the DMIA as well as to attract Middle Eastern airlines to operate at the airport.
He also said that the facility would be completed by April 4, 2008 and its grand inauguration will coincide with the birthday of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
He said the contractor of the project is the Philippine Sundt, one of the best in the country.
“The facility would ready by April 4 next which would be coincided with the birthday celebration of President Arroyo,” Lorenzo said.
Lorenzo said that an initial $3 million will be infused for the first phase of the project were it would produce 4,000 meals per day, adding that the second phase of the project will cost about $5 million.
“The facility in Clark will be for western kitchen, but depending on the traffic at DMIA, because what we want to see is to attract Middle Eastern carriers to operate in the airport,” Lorenzo said.
He added that if Middle Eastern airlines will come in at DMIA, they will be adding a kitchen for Muslim consumption at the catering facility where “Halal” food will be prepared similar to those in-flight catering service in Manila.
Lorenzo has also revealed plans for their operations in Clark where they will also set up a ground handling facility, a Maintenance and Repair Center and to provide a complete line of airport services at DMIA.
For his part, Wall said “to be here in this groundbreaking is absolutely terrific, I just would like to say thanks to all the people who came out and shared this historic moment with us.”
Wall also commended the leadership of CIAC and the CDC for their support to the project, “Special thanks to the folks from Clark and we look forward to a terrific cooperation.”
“Gate Gourmet has been very proud to be a partner of Miascor for the past 10 years and were very proud of our presence in the Philippines and we are equally as proud to grow and build our facility here at Clark,” Wall said during a brief message.
The Memorandum of Agreement was signed last April 11, 2007 between CIAC President Victor Jose Luciano and Lorenzo of Miascor in the presence of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during her visit at Clark Freeport.
Luciano said the in-flight catering is vital to DMIA because long-haul airliners could now be served. "We are expecting long-haul airliners to operate at DMIA once the in-flight catering starts operation," he said.
The Macapagal airport, with its twin 3.2-kilometer runways built by the Americans, its newly acquired US$9.3 million radar system, and its strategic location in the heart of Asia, could be one of the best new gateway in the country. It is being developed as part of a mega-logistic hub and services in the Subic-Clark corridor.
"The acquisition of the state-of-the-art radar system was just one of the steps taken to improve the infrastructure at DMIA. And now we are trying to establish the in-flight catering facilities at DMIA to cope with the development of new airports in Asia," said Luciano.
With the in-flight catering facilities, CIAC is expecting to serve thousands of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who are based in Central and Northern Luzon, said Luciano.
The bulk of OFWs in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world came from the two regions and DMIA could very well serve these OFWs, he said.
The Filipino workers abroad will no longer have to travel to Manila to catch their flights because DMIA is just right at the doorstep to serve them, said Luciano.
CIAC is in talks with Tair Airlines, a middle-eastern airliner for a possible operation between Clark and Saudi Arabia.
OFWs in Central and Northern Luzon are awaiting the operations of Tair Airways with great anticipation because their travel time will be shortened while they will also save money if they fly out of DMIA instead of catching their flights in Manila.