Luzon International Premier Airport Development (LIPAD), the operator of Clark International Airport in the Philippines, has announced that the new Clark Airport terminal building will be operational by July.

The new building will accommodate nearly eight million passengers a year and feature several contactless passenger solutions.

BusinessWorld quoted LIPAD CEO Bi Yong S Chungunco as saying: “It will open by July for domestic operations.”

Currently, the building’s interiors are under construction.

In addition, a ‘silent airport policy’ will be implemented by LIPAD, which will eliminate the calls for boarding and departures, except in airport emergencies.

LIPAD said: “Travellers will rely on posted updates for quick reference. Passengers will be more at ease with the options that have no face-to-face interaction. Among these are the common-use self-service kiosks (CUSS) and the self-service bag drops. Travellers can check-in at these kiosks shared by other airlines and without the need for ground staff.

“For travellers to be fully relaxed and at ease, the processes must not be confusing. Travellers of all kinds have varying backgrounds and such a design allows for each traveller to have that feeling of being guided through the process by the interplay of finer details, even with the protocols for safe distancing and all necessary measures to ensure passenger safety in a pandemic.”

The new terminal building has been jointly built by GMR Infrastructure and Megawide Construction.

Chungunco also indicated converting the old passenger terminal into a vaccination hub.

As of now, Clark International Airport handles as many as 4.2 million passengers annually.