President Arroyo to lead groundbreaking of Caticlan airport development
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

KALIBO, Aklan – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is set to lead the groundbreaking of the P2.5-billion Caticlan airport development on January 12.
Designed to accommodate bigger aircrafts and the increasing passenger traffic in the Godofredo P. Ramos airport, popularly known as Caticlan Airport, the private consortium Caticlan International Airport Development Corporation (CIADC) is given by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DoTC) the notice to proceed with the project.

The airport hosts to a number of local airlines, notably, the South East Asian Airlines (Seair), the Philippine Airlines Express and Cebu Pacific, which operates direct flights from Manila and Cebu to Caticlan.
The mega tourism project operates under a 25-year build-operate-transfer contract, involves the construction of a new passenger-building terminal, extension of the runway at the reclaimed area from 890 meters to 1,900 meters and the expansion of the passenger terminal building and apron.

Asked to comment on the opening of Carabao Island airport in 2010, Aklan Governor Carlito Marquez said the island is about 25 minutes from the famous island of Boracay by motorboat and within the 50-kilometer radius of the Caticlan airport in Malay, Aklan.
“The provincial government is leading the development of the Caticlan area, precisely, to improve our competitiveness in the tourism industry to achieve the one million tourists target by 2013,” the governor said.
Marquez stressed a P260-million bond flotation is offered by the provincial government to the public this year to finance the reclamation of the 2.6 hectares foreshore area and improve the Caticlan jetty port.

In a statement last year, Marquez and Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores welcomed the Caticlan airport development to solve the accessibility problems of Boracay tourists and to cater bigger commercial aircrafts for domestic flights.

Caticlan airport, a Class 2 principal airport, is one of the busiest airports in the country with over 50 flights daily in peak season and close to 700,000 passengers.