AIRASIA TO START CEBU-KAOHSIUNG FLIGHTS

Budget carrier AirAsia Philippines is starting flights between Cebu and Kaohsiung, Taiwan on Aug. 1 this year.

In a statement on Tuesday, GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. said AirAsia Philippines would operate the route three times a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. GMCAC is the operator of the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

“Our location makes MCIA the ideal jump-off point to other tourist destinations in the central and southern islands, and we are making this happen through strategic airline marketing efforts and partners such as AirAsia,” GMCAC president Louie Ferrer said in the statement.

“AirAsia has been one of our most dynamic partners in developing international connectivity and we thank them for their continued support of MCIA and Cebu,” he added.

From MCIA, AirAsia Philippines flies to 13 destinations namely, Manila, Clark, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Puerto Princesa, Caticlan, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Seoul, Shenzhen, Macau, Taipei and Kaohsiung.

With this route, Mactan Cebu Airport is now connected to 28 domestic destinations and 23 international destinations with nine Philippine-based and 17 foreign airline partners.

“The Philippines continues to be one of the top holiday destinations for Taiwanese,” AirAsia Philippines CEO Dexter Comendador said.

“As the only Philippine airline to connect Cebu and Clark directly to Kaohsiung, we are pleased to be able to contribute to Philippine tourism and bring Cebuanos and Kapampangans closer to southern Taiwan as well,” he added.

AirAsia Philippines carried 2.22 million passengers from April to June this year, up 22 percent year-on-year.

During this period, the airline added two Airbus A320s, beefing up its fleet to 23 aircraft.

Moreover, demand remained strong in terms of load factor, which measures seats occupied versus capacity. AirAsia Philippines said load factor grew 4 percentage points to 91 percent in the second quarter of the year.