PAL adds Japan flights
With more improvements expected to happen in the old Mactan Cebu International Airport terminal, new operators are planning to add more direct international flights — particularly, those from the Middle East countries where there are a high concentration of overseas Filipino workers.
They are pleased with Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) two new flights from Cebu to Nagoya and Osaka in Japan, said Andrew Acquaah Harrison, GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC) chief executive advisor, in an interview last Friday.
PAL launched their four weekly flights between Cebu and Osaka last Friday and three weekly flights between Cebu and Nagoya last Saturday.
The ceremony was highlighted by a water-cannon salute for both aircraft signaling the start of a new route from Cebu.
Harrison said it has always been their practice to do a water-cannon salute for every maiden flight.
The new PAL flights bring the total flights of the flag carrier to Japan to 67.
Cielo Villaluna, PAL head for external communications, said PAL now has 14 weekly flights to Narita in Tokyo, Japan aside from the new flights.
“They (PAL) are now also talking about relaunching their flights between Manila and New York. Hopefully, soon, Cebu will also have direct flights to New York,” said Harrison.
DIRECT SERVICE TALKS
Harrison added that they are also in talks with other international carriers including Cathay Pacific to also increase their traffic in Cebu.
“What we want now is direct service from here to the Middle East. We know there are lots of Filipinos working there from Visayas and with a direct flight here in Cebu, I’m sure it would be more convenient for them,” said Harrison.
GMCAC has recently initiated the creation of a tourism task force that will help define plans and strategies on how to market Cebu more.
“We know that the success of the airport is highly dependent on the success of the destination. So the key thing to do is to promote Cebu more and then we can expect to see more flights coming in,” he said.
Department of Tourism Regional Director Rowena Montecillo, who heads the task force, said that the additional flights to Japan is just the beginning of many more markets they want to tap in.
“Japan is our second largest tourist group even without the flights. How much more if we put in more accessibility,” she said.
JAPAN ARRIVALS
Based on figures from the DOT, from January to August this year arrivals from Japan was at 310,901 which was a growth of 5.95 percent compared to the same period last year.
Montecillo said she expects the market to continue to grow especially that the Central Visayas region has clustered with Regions 6 and 8 to promote as One Visayas banking more on diving, a well loved activity by most Japanese tourists.
“We are all working on a good strategy to really attract more tourists to come. The creation of the task force and the clustering of the Visayas regions will all contribute positively to our goal,” she said.
LOAN DEAL
Meanwhile, the GMCAC signed an omnibus loan and security agreement (OSLA) with a group of six local banks last Dec. 17.
According to the GMCAC in a statement, the agreement allows the Megawide group to finance 70 percent of the total project cost of the MCIA public private partnership (PPP) project.
The BDO Capital and Investment Corp. is the lead arranger while the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. and Philippine National Bank are the participants in the lending consortium.
According to the GMCAC, this will allow the required funding for the improvements in Terminal 1 and the new Terminal 2.
GMCAC said the agreement is a validation by the banking industry of the financial sustainability of the project.