Tigerair and Cebu Pacific Add More Flights to Visayas

[Terpe]

Passengers in the Visayas will soon have more options available as Tigerair Philippines plans to add new destinations to its route network, while Cebu Pacific boosts frequency on existing routes. Beginning in October, Tigerair will add Clark, Roxas, and Tagbilaran to its route network, while Cebu Pacific increases flights to Manila, Roxas, and Bacolod.

The new flights are scheduled to take off on October 23, 2014. Although not part of its Visayan expansion plans, Tigerair decided to add a direct link between Manila and Clark to enable travellers to maximize time spent on business and leisure activities. The daily flights are only thirty minutes long and depart Manila at 5:10pm each day, arriving in Clark at 5:40pm. The return trip departs Clark at 11:20pm, and arrives back in Manila at 11:50pm.

Meanwhile, passengers will now be able to fly Tigerair to Tagbilaran and Roxas, providing travellers with even more choices of airlines and flights. The service to Roxas will depart Manila each day at 2:00pm, arriving in Roxas at 3:05pm. The return trip will leave Roxas at 3:35pm, and reach Manila at 4:40pm. Bohol bound passengers can board daily flights to Tagbilaran departing Manila at 6:00am and arriving in Tagbilaran at 7:15am. The return journey leaves at 7:55am and lands in Manila at 9:10am.

All flights operated by Tigerair Philippines utilise Airbus A320 aircraft and depart from Terminal 4 at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. With the addition of these new services, Tigerair will now offer more than 240 weekly flights to 12 domestic destinations throughout the Philippines with its fleet of four A320 aircraft. The carrier also operates flights to Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, its parent company, Cebu Pacific, the nation's largest low cost carrier, plans to also expand its presence in the Visayas by increasing frequency of service on routes from Manila to Bacolod, Cebu, and Roxas.

The additional flights to the three Visayan cities will be added in the last quarter of this year. Between October 9 and December 3, Cebu Pacific will increase its number of flights between Manila and Roxas from seven to thirteen, while flights between Manila and Cebu will be increased from 114 weekly to 128.

From October 26 to December 3, flights between Manila and Bacolod will increase from 42 to 49, representing the addition of an extra daily flight. According to Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific's Vice President for Marketing & Distribution, the new flights are aimed at stimulating travel in the Visayas.

"Cebu Pacific continues to study opportunities to stimulate travel to and from the Visayas," said Iyog. "We believe that air travel brings convenient accessibility not just for the tourism sector, but also for the business sector."

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[Ako Si Jamie]

I don't see why the airlines don't add routes between the main tourist destinations such as Bohol, Kalibo/Caticlan (Boracay) and Puerto Princesa. There are plenty of tourists that come to the Phils and want to visit different places who don't like the idea of returning back to Manila to catch another flight.