Hot air balloon fest moving out of Clark

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga – The Hot Air International Balloon Festival, which has become a much-awaited annual tourism event in this freeport, is moving out due to safety considerations at the Clark International Airport.

This year, the festival will be held 33 kilometers away in Lubao, hometown of Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Gov. Lilia Pineda.

And from its usual February staging, the event will now be held on April 10-13 to lure Holy Week pilgrims and tourists.

This was announced yesterday by Noel Castro Jr., chairman of the newly formed Pilipinas International Balloon Festival Inc., “which will henceforth manage and operate this year’s ballooning event and future events as well.”

Past festivals at Clark were spearheaded by pilot Joy Roa and partially funded by the government-owned Clark Development Corp. 

“The annual festival has been moved to its new location in view of the air traffic situation (and) aviation-related activities at the Clark International Airport where 10 international and domestic airlines now operate,” Castro said.

“We were told that flying hot air balloons at an altitude of 4,000 feet may inconvenience airlines, especially if launched during peak hours, thus the decision to move out of the 25-kilometer no-fly zone for balloons off Clark,” he added. 

Castro said this year’s festival will be held in a 250-hectare property in Barangay Prado Siongco in Lubao town where a world-class theme park is now under construction.

A wakeboarding park, envisioned to be the largest in Southeast Asia, 57 international standard villas and a championship golf course are also being planned in the area, he said.