Seair flies Puerto Princesa-Kota Kinabalu twice a week

January 28, 2009

Davao City -- Fresh from the debut of its Puerto Princesa-KotaKinabalu flight last November 2008, Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAir) nowflies the route twice a week, ushering a more upbeat outlook on tourism inthe Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area(BIMP-EAGA).

The Philippine domestic carrier, which features the 32-seater Dornier 328aircraft, will have flights from Puerto Princesa to Kota Kinabalu everyTuesday and Friday, from the initial once-a-week schedule. Felisa Torres, Puerto Princesa City Tourism Council (CTC) president said that the said routes should be promoted intensively and marketed competitively for it to be sustained. Torres has earlier said in an article that this is a welcome development tthat will help boost their local economy.

SEAir president Avelino Zapanta earlier said in an article that the airlinewill look into increasing the frequency of flights on the route to twice a week in January, depending on the response. Meanwhile, their tourism counterparts in Sabah also showed the same enthusiasm citing a slight tourist increase from the Philippines to Sabah during the first semester of 2008.

"We are very optimistic that with the strengthening of this air link we can further boost the tourism and economy of both countries and in turn fortify efforts of the BIMP-EAGA cooperation," said Undersecretary Virgilio Leyretana. MEDCo acts as the Philippine coordinating office for BIMP-EAGA inwhich Mindanao and Palawan are its focus areas.

The SEAir inaugural flights scheduled last November 28 commenced from Clark to Caticlan to Puerto Princesa to Kota Kinabalu. Established in 1995, SEAIR started its operations with two nine-seater airplanes.

To date, SEA air has flown almost three million passengers to 12 local tourist destinations. Leyretana added that the opening of another economic gateway in Palawan is"a milestone in encouraging interest in Mindanao and Palawan as the Philippine EAGA focus areas, especially in the area of tourism and trade.

"The Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area(BIMP-EAGA) is a major collaboration to boost the socio-economic development among poor regions of its member-countries by strengthening policies that will enhance the movement of people and goods. EAGA members are pushing for more regular air connections to link the fourcountries to the rest of the world and accelerate the planned integration of EAGA's tourism development. (MEDCo)