CebPac, Cebgo unveil new domestic and SEA flights

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Low-cost Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific is expanding its domestic network and its presence in Southeast Asia with four new routes aimed at improving accessibility for travelers outside Metro Manila as well as increasing connectivity within the region.

Cebu Pacific will begin operating thrice-a-week Kalibo-Clark flights (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) on October 30, 2017, providing a link to Western Visayas, including Boracay Island, for tourists from North and Central Luzon, as well as for foreigners, via Clark International Airport.

The return Clark-Kalibo flight, on the other hand, begins on October 31, 2017 (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays).

Meanwhile, wholly owned subsidiary Cebgo is boosting its presence in Northern Mindanao through the Cagayan de Oro (Laguindingan) Airport, with new inter-island connections.

Starting October 20, 2017, Cebgo will fly from Cagayan de Oro to Boracay (Caticlan) and to Dumaguete three times a week.

On top of these new domestic routes, Cebgo will operate its first international route out of Zamboanga with four-times-weekly flights (Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays) to Sandakan, Malaysia starting October 29, 2017.

Cebgo is currently the only Philippine carrier with a direct service between the country and Sandakan.

“Cebu Pacific is very pleased to continue being a travel enabler to everyJuan as we further establish seamless connections not only within the archipelago, but to the rest of Southeast Asia,” Cebgo president and chief executive officer Alexander Lao said.

He added, “Sandakan has had centuries of trade and cultural linkage with the southern Philippines, and we are especially proud to put in place infrastructure to further enhance these ties. Now, the previous 14-hour travel by sea is cut down to just a 40-minute airplane ride.”

The new Sandakan route in the Cebu Pacific network supports the drive for seamless logistics connectivity within the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

Trade and Investment Assistant Secretary Art Boncato, Jr., outgoing senior official of the Philippines to BIMP-EAGA, noted that with connectivity being a major pillar in the development of BIMP-EAGA, “the new route would offer better service to the traveling public and open greater opportunities for trade, investment, and tourism with Western Mindanao as a growing regional gateway to the Philippines.”

Created in 1994, BIMP-EAGA consists of the entire Borneo Island, which is divided between Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, together with Mindanao as well as the other Indonesian provinces such as Sulawesi and Maluku. It is meant to harness capabilities to turn the entire area into a thriving economic and tourism center.

“The opening of this air route is a clear manifestation that with strong private and public partnership, we can truly make things happen as one BIMP-EAGA family,” added Datu HJ Abul Khayr Alonto, chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority.

“We are already seeing this route to complement the proposed Tawi-Tawi Special Economic and Freeport Zone Development efforts, given that Sandakan is one of Mindanao’s direct links to a larger EAGA economy,” he said.

The Cebu Pacific route network is now comprised of 27 international and 37 domestic destinations. Its fleet consists of three Airbus A319, 36 Airbus A320, and eight Airbus A330 airplanes; while the Cebgo fleet is composed of eight ATR 72-500 and six ATR 72-600 aircraft.