Two Sino airlines start flights to Cebu from China

TWO Chinese airlines expressed optimism over the vast opportunities here as they launched new flights between Cebu and China last week.

On November 1, the Mactan–Cebu International Airport (MCIA) welcomed flights from its two newest airline partners, Juneyao Airlines and Okay Airways.

“Cebu is the second largest city (in the Philippines) and they have lots of opportunities and chance to establish a long-term cooperation with Shanghai and Cebu, so that’s why we chose Cebu as our first destination,” said Steven Zhou, Cebu station manager of Juneyao Airlines, in a statement.

At 2:40 in the morning, Juneyao Airlines arrived at MCIA and was shortly followed by Okay Airways.

About 110 passengers from Shanghai and about 180 passengers from Xianyang were aboard the inaugural flights of Juneyao Airlines and Okay Airways, respectively.

Representatives of GMR MEGAWIDE Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC), the private operator of the MCIA, together with the Department of Tourism in Central Visayas (DOT-7), greeted the passengers with leis and tokens.

Juneyao Airlines and Okay Airways are mounting thrice-weekly flights to Shanghai Pudong International Airport and to China’s historic city Xianyang, respectively, starting this month.

Juneyao Airlines is a major full-service airline based in Shanghai, China, operating both domestic and international services from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

Cebu is the first destination which the airline operates in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Okay Airways’ Xianyang-Cebu-Xianyang is its second flight service in the Philippines.

Okay Air is China’s first privately owned Chinese carrier and is based in Tianjin, China.

“The market of Okay Airways is more on the tourists and Cebu is a destination near the cities where there are many tourist spots as well,” said Jo Zablan, Okay Air’s Airport Service Manager.

GMCAC President Louie Ferrer, for his part, said destination marketing is their main strategy in strengthening Cebu’s connectivity.

“Promoting the province and its surrounding areas to other Asian countries, especially China, is among our highest priorities,” he said.

Ferrer added that studies have shown that China is the highest spending tourist market in the world and so they want to bring this high-spending market to Cebu.

GMCAC is also looking to promote Cebu to other untapped markets that includes other provinces in China, Australia, and other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand are also high on the list.

Ferrer confirmed that the company is also targeting new flights to North Asia, the Middle East, North America and Europe.

MCIA will also launch new flight services to Beijing and Bangkok, and more domestic flights in the coming months.

According to data from the DOT-7, Central Visayas welcomed 2 million visitors between January and April 2017, 1.09 million of which were foreign visitors while, further broken down, 126,599 were from China.

China is the third biggest tourist market of the region, posting a growth rate of 77.86 percent during the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2016.