Local trade, tourism to benefit from new Cebu-Dubai flights

By: Vanessa Claire Lucero March 30,2016 - 10:37 PM

The Emirates Airlines inaugural flight from Dubai arrives at the Mactan  Cebu International Airport (left photo). At right, Emirates executives, together with Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya (6th from left) and GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. president Manuel Louie Ferrer lead the ceremonial cake-cutting ceremony at the MCIA. CDN PHOTOS/VANESSA CLAIRE LUCERO

The Emirates Airlines inaugural flight from Dubai arrives at the Mactan Cebu International Airport. (CDN PHOTOS/VANESSA CLAIRE LUCERO)

Emirates launch caps month’s opening of new international routes to Mactan airport

Cebu’s tourism and trade economies can expect significant growth this year and in the years to come due to the launch of new flights, several aviation industry executives said yesterday.

They were referring to the new flights launched this month including yesterday’s  Cebu-Dubai flight, which capped this year’s roster of new flights at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA). The new flight routes offered are:  Cebu-Los Angeles (March 15), Cebu-Taipei (March 27), and Cebu-Xiamen (March 28).

“In terms of connectivity, the new flights put more focus on Cebu, both as a tourist destination and as a jump-off point to nearby islands and beyond,” said Andrew Acquaah Harrison, chief executive adviser of GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC).

“It means that people from Visayas and Mindanao can easily access Cebu to take these flights directly to their destinations, and airlines like Emirates give us global connectivity to so many parts of the world,” he added, during the launch of Emirates Airlines Cebu-Dubai flight.

The Cebu-Dubai flights will also makes its mark as Emirates’ first-ever daily two-stop, circular service in the Philippines, briefly stopping over at Clark from Cebu, before continuing to Dubai.

The Emirates Airlines inaugural flight from Dubai arrives at the Mactan  Cebu International Airport (left photo). At right, Emirates executives, together with Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya (6th from left) and GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. president Manuel Louie Ferrer lead the ceremonial cake-cutting ceremony at the MCIA. CDN PHOTOS/VANESSA CLAIRE LUCERO

Emirates executives, together with Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya (6th from left) and GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. president Manuel Louie Ferrer lead the ceremonial cake-cutting ceremony at the MCIA. (CDN PHOTOS/VANESSA CLAIRE LUCERO)

The partnership was a year in the making, with talks between Emirates, the Philippine government and GMCAC beginning in 2015, said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates senior vice president for Aeropolitical and Industry Affairs.

It was further smoothened out with the airline’s existing relationship with GMCAC in its airports in India, Harrison said.

After entering the Philippines in 1990 with direct flights from Manila to Dubai, the Dubai-based airline company is now eyeing regional airports in a bid to expand its growth.

“We’ve done our study. Cebu is one of the markets we would like to go in,” Obaidalla said.

“There is growth potential here in Cebu,” said the airline executive who cited the 95 load capacity on the inaugural flight alone.

Harrison also said that for the first two months, bookings from Dubai via Emirates have reached 90 percent.

Of these tourists, a number are from Europe as well, he added.

Obaidalla said that the company is positive it can sustain the market between Cebu and Dubai, which is a mix of tourists, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and business people.

“Our extensive global network of over 150 destinations will help enhance connectivity for both Cebu and Clark, providing more choices for travelers, more markets for regional products and more opportunities for inbound tourism,” added Badr Abbas, Emirates’ senior vice president for Commercial Operations – Far East.

He also said that exporting to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Visayas and Mindanao would be easier with the direct flight, which extends Cebu’s tourism and trade possibilities not only to Dubai but also to 39 other destinations in Europe, 16 in the Middle East, and a number in Africa and South America.

“This is what we wanted — to be able to diversify markets,” Harrison said, stressing that at present, 63 percent of all international tourists are from Korea.

“We cannot depend on just one market. We said we wanted the US, EU, Middle East and China. From that, we’ve achieved three this March. We’re ready for an EU carrier but we want to wait a little bit because of capacity issues,” he said.

GMCAC is also targeting Australia, more cities in China and Thailand.

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TAGS: Cebu, Clark, Dubai, GMCAC, GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation, tourism, trade

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