CEB Expands Laguindingan Hub

Grows Zamboanga Hub

15 August 2017

Cebu Pacific (CEB) will introduce flights from Cagayan de Oro to Dumaguete and Caticlan beginning October 20, 2017 with ATR72-600 services.

Flights from Laguindingan airport departs at 8:55AM arriving Caticlan at 10:30AM. Return flights is at 10:50AM arriving Cagayan at 12:25PM, while fights to Dumaguete departs at 3:15PM arriving 4:05PM and return flight is at 7:55PM arriving Cagayan de Oro at 8:50PM.

Meanwhile, CEB also upgrades Zamboanga hub by introducing first of its international flights to Sandakan, Malaysia, beginning October 29, 2017 with ATR72-600 aircraft.

PAL flies Auckland Direct

Upgrades Capacity to New Zealand

14 August 2017

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL)is flying Manila- Auckland direct beginning December 6 this year reducing flight time to 10 hours from the current 12.15 hour Manila – Auckland via Cairns route.

The non-stop MNL – AKL flight (PR 218) will be operated initially by Airbus A340-300 aircraft thrice weekly – every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday departing Manila at 11:15PM, and arriving Auckland at 2:05PM local time the following day. Return flight (PR 219) leaves Auckland every Friday, Saturday and Tuesday at 12:30AM local time arriving Manila at 5:45AM.

Service upgrade will be made available beginning next year with Airbus A330-300  aircraft.

Meanwhile, Manila-Cairns route will be dropped temporarily beginning December 5. Flight services is expected to resume next year when more A321neo aircraft orders are delivered.

Currently, some Cairns to Manila flights on A320 and A321s are diverted to Davao airport for technical stopovers due to range issues.

CAAP Scored By ICAO For Safety Oversight

9 August 2017

Ulaanbaatar- The Philippines Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was cited by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as showing an upward trend in Effective Implementation (EI) of Aviation Safety Oversight.

CAA scored an overall result of 69.68% in EI under the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USUOP) of the ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) conducted from May 30 to June 8, 2017

The Philippine rating is 10.77% higher than the 64.85% world average which is a significant jump from the 59.91 rating achieved by the country in 2016.

PAA Adds Iloilo

5 August 2017

Philippines Air Asia has announced that it will open Manila-Iloilo route beginning Oct. 1 this year.

The route will be operated thrice a day on Airbus A320 aircraft.

Other planned routes include Manila to Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro which will be announce by the airline soon.

Air Asia flies from Manila to Kalibo, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban, Cebu, Tagbilaran, Caticlan, and Davao. It also operates hub in Kalibo, Cebu, and Puerto Princesa.

Air Juan Opens Sipalay Airport

Connects Cebu and Iloilo

4 August 2017

Rural airline Air Juan opens up Sipalay Airport to traffic as it begins scheduled flight services to Cebu yesterday and Iloilo today.

The LGU operated airport opens its door to Air Juan Aviation Inc., as it connects to Cebu and Iloilo twice a week to cater to tourists traffic.

The erstwhile Maricalum airstrip is the first LGU operated airport in the country with Air Juan being the first airline to use it in scheduled service. Other general aviation planes also uses the airport for personal transport of passengers.

Air Juan president, John Anthony Gutierrez, said that they are planning to connect Sipalay airport to Busuanga and El Nido, all in northern Palawan, aside from Cebu and Iloilo to address the foreign passenger traffic's demand.

Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., lauded Gutierrez for launching the “bold missionary project “.

Marañon said that another airline SEAIR earlier considered the route to Cebu but the plan never pans out to fruition.

Air Juan also connects Iloilo to Caticlan airport among other tourists spots in Baler and Cuyo island.

Negros Occidental was ranked as the second most visited destination by domestic tourists among the provinces in the country last year,according to the Philippine Statistics Authority(PSA).

“I am very sure that this airport will play a vital role, not only for the tourism industry, but also in the economic development of the south”, Marañon said.

Sipalay City and its neighboring areas are famous by foreign tourist for diving sites and white sand beach resorts.

Air Juan is accredited by the Department of Tourism as a tourist air transport provider.

PAL Advances B777 Re-introduction To London

Equipment Upgrade Begins Sept.19

4 August 2017

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) will fly back the B777-300ER aircraft to London Heathrow beginning September 19 instead of December 16, 2017 but with reduce daily services to 5 times a week.

The flight reduction will be temporary as the airline awaits delivery of another B777 frame by December where it flies back to daily services to LHR.

PAL said it is up-sizing the route from Airbus 340 to enable the airline to bring forward the retirement of some of its current A340-300 fleet which will be fully withdrawn from service in 2018 after arrival of its A350-900.

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PAL Expands Inter Islands

Opens Old Routes, Add new ones with Q400s

1 August 2017

Q400NG (sn4561,RP-C5901) on its inaugural flight to Caticlan and Clark airport

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is growing back its domestic portfolio by re-opening suspended routes that were previously abandoned due to poor sales and opening up new routes for their newly acquired Q400 NGs.

Resumption of flights schedules are being planned together with introduction of new routes for the following destinations:

CLARK HUB
CLARK-BASCO__________________new
CLARK-BACOLOD_______________new
CLARK-TAGBILARAN____________new
CLARK-CAGAYAN DE ORO_______new


CEBU HUB
CEBU-OZAMIZ__________________ old
CEBU-LEGASPI__________________old
CEBU-MAMBAJAO_______________new
CEBU-LAOAG___________________ new
CEBU-SIARGAO_________________ new

DAVAO HUB
DAVAO-CAGAYAN DE ORO_______ old
DAVAO-ZAMBOANGA____________old
DAVAO-TAGBILARAN____________new
DAVAO-CATICLAN_______________new

ZAMBOANGA HUB
ZAMBOANGA-CEBU_____________ old
ZAMBOANGA-TAWI-TAWI________ old
ZAMBOANGA-JOLO______________old
ZAMBOANGA-ILOILO____________new
ZAMBOANGA-BACOLOD_________ new
ZAMBOANGA-PUERTO PRINCESA_new

All routes will be operated by PAL subsidiary Air Philippines Corporation.