MANILA, Philippines - Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific) of taipan John Gokongwei launched the first international flight out of the Iloilo International Airport last Nov. 8 making the province the sixth hub in the country.
Cebu Pacific’s maiden Iloilo – Hong Kong flight left the Iloilo International Airport last Nov. 8 and launched the Iloilo – Singapore flight No. 9.
The budget airline is expected to fly to Hong Kong from Iloilo every Thursday and Sunday and would fly to Singapore from Iloilo every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog said Iloilo is the sixth hub of the airline and other operational hubs include Manila, Cebu, Clark, Kalibo, and Davao.
“With these new routes, Cebu Pacific affirms its commitment to provide connectivity to Iloilo and Western Visayas, by basing an aircraft here, and making Iloilo one of the airline’s operational hubs,” Iyog stressed.
She pointed out that the new international flights would boost the country’s tourist arrivals.
“Whenever Cebu Pacific opens a new route, we grow and stimulate travel with our trademark lowest fares. We believe that these new international routes will open a lot of tourism and business opportunities to and from Iloilo and its surrounding areas, and we couldn’t be prouder of our contribution to this regional growth,” she added.
Last October, the airline launched direct flights from Iloilo to three more domestic destinations: Tacloban, General Santos and Puerto Princesa. Previously, CEB only flew from Iloilo to Manila, Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro.
“Cebu Pacific and the Philippine Department of Tourism continue to promote fun travel to the Philippines through awareness campaigns in Singapore and Hong Kong. Similarly, offices such as the Singapore Tourism Board also work hand in hand with the airline to grow international traffic from Western Visayas,” she said.
Singapore Tourism Board Area Director for Philippines and Brunei Sherina Chan said the Iloilo-Singapore-Iloilo flights marks the beginning of a steady flow of visitors from the Western Visayas region to Singapore.
“They can easily discover for themselves what a great holiday destination Singapore is,” Chan said.
The inaugural international flights to and from Iloilo also come at an opportune time, as Cebu Pacific’s previously announced market of overseas Filipino workers in both Singapore and Hong Kong go home for the Christmas holidays.