ZestAir to cut flights to Shanghai

MANILA, Philippines - Zest Airways Inc. is reducing the number of flights to Shanghai, China to three times a week from the current five times a week starting next month due to the territorial dispute between the Philippines and China over the Panatag Shoal.

ZestAir chief marketing and sales officer Alfredo Herrera said in an interview with reporters that starting September, the airline would reduce the number of flights to Shanghai that was launched late last month.

He said the airline and its agents are having a hard time promoting the route aggressively due to the spat between the Philippines and China over the West Philippine Sea.

 “It’s a bit of a challenge if you cannot promote aggressively,” he stressed.

Despite the tension, Herrera pointed out that ZestAir is committed to pursuing its expansion plans in China.

 “We clearly see China as our major market,” he said.

For his part, ZestAir chief executive advisor Brian Hogan said China is an important market for the airline as Chinese are the fourth largest visitor to the Philippines last year after the Koreans, Americans, and Japanese.

 “We are going to do it slowly. The market is growing up so fast,” he said.

He said that the airline intends to fly in the top cities in China despite the tensions between the two countries.

Zest Air reduced its passenger traffic target to three million this year from the earlier goal of 3.5 million of which 2.5 million would come from domestic flights and 500,000 from international flights. This would still be higher than last year’s 2.3 million domestic and international passengers.