By HENRY EMPEÑO | 

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is now expecting more business at the Subic airport with the opening here on Monday of a facility targeting Asia-Pacific clientele for aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the MRO project by business aviation services provider Aviation Concepts Technical Services Inc. (ACTSI) will boost the agency’s program for the full development of the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) as a 24/7 hub for business aviation.

 

ACTSI, which is the maintenance arm of Falconer Aircraft Management, Inc., an affiliated company of global port management firm International Container Terminal Serives, Inc. (ICTSI), is set to provide hangar parking, corporate jet maintenance, repair and overhaul, as well as aircraft corrosion preventive solutions at its Subic hangar.

It has upgraded close to 18,000 square meters of hangar space at the SBIA for this purpose.

ACTSI general manager John O’Meara and president and chief executive officer Fernando Gaspar led the soft launch of the Subic hangar with Senator Richard Gordon as guest of honor.

The senator, who initiated the establishment of the SBIA when he was SBMA chairman, welcomed the business venture of ACTSI and pointed out that the airport is one of the strategic advantages of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Eisma said this development could snowball into more business for the Subic airport, which once served as a 24-hour Asian hub of the global courier giant Federal Express until 2009.

“We have long dreamed of developing the SBIA into a business and general aviation (BA/GA) airport in the country, and this project is one huge step towards realizing that vision,” Eisma said on Thursday.

“We are banking on the strategic location of Subic in the Asia-Pacific region to boost SBIA’s chances to become a regional player in the MRO business,” she added.

In last Monday’s launch, the ACTSI hangar easily accommodated a 2010 Gulfstream Aerospace GIV-X (G450), which is more than 89 feet long and with a wingspan of more than 77 feet.  A helicopter was also parked inside the facility.

ACTSI, which has signed a 25-year lease agreement with the SBMA, also hopes to leverage the SBIA’s 9,000-feet long runway for easy take-offs and landings for its large-sized aircraft clients.

The Subic airport started out in 1951 as the Naval Air Station Cubi Point of the United States Navy and was converted into a commercial airport under the SBMA in 1992.

The SBMA has since marketed SBIA for its strategic location, it being only 1.5 hours away from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan and just 3 hours away from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

In a forum sponsored last year by the Hong Kong-based Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA), aviation executives expressed enthusiasm about developing Subic into a fully integrated aerospace park and aviation hub.

Eisma also said that that enthusiasm has been further bolstered by concrete support from the Philippine government which allocated P553 million to improve SBIA equipment and intensify its marketing campaign.

“Along this line, we are now working to revive domestic and international flight operations at the SBIA; regain the SBIA’s status as an international airport; and settle pending issues to make Subic a 24/7 air terminal,” Eisma added.

 

TOP PHOTO: A 22-seater 2010 Gulfstream Aerospace GIV-X (G450) is seen parked at the ACTSI hangar during the soft launch of the facility on Monday. (Photo by Mike Cruz)