5J flies back to Caticlan

Starts flight on March 1

February 2, 2010

Cebu Pacific (CEB) announces the resumption of its Caticlan operations starting March 1, 2010, after an almost 7-month hiatus from flying to the Godofredo P. Ramos Airport, the gateway to Boracay. Four flights from Manila-Kalibo will return back to Caticlan as well as the Cebu-Kalibo flights.

“CEB is pursuing this gradual transition to Caticlan to make sure our ATR pilots are properly re-certified to operate the route. In as much as we would like to resume our full Caticlan schedule immediately, our main priority will always be the safety of our passengers,” said CEB VP for Marketing and Distribution Candice Iyog.

The airline expects to resume full Caticlan operations by March 28, 2010, with 11 Manila-Caticlan-Manila flights and 1 Cebu-Caticlan-Cebu flight daily. This gives CEB the most number of airline seats to and from Caticlan.

“We hope passengers on our March 1-27 flights can support us in this transition period. We are very happy we can once again open our Caticlan route to our Boracay-bound passengers, and offer the same great value fares we offer to our 31 other domestic destinations,” she added.

The airline suspended its flights to Caticlan last July 10, 2009, following the directive of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) concerning the airport’s safety concerns and its implementation of unidirectional landing and take-off procedures.

Following the completion of the runways extension project, CAAP in a memo dated January 25, 2010 re-certified both ATR 72-500 of Cebu Pacific and MA-60 of Zest Air to take off and land in both directions of Caticlan runway subject to applicable restrictions. The Memo however bars the covered airlines from using the airport particularly during bad weather conditions, as they are advised to divert flights to Kalibo airport. Meanwhile, Zest Air is scheduled to announce its resumption of service next week.