MANILA, Philippines - Spirit of Manila Airlines has started direct flights from Clark to the Kingdom of Bah-rain, making the new airline the only Philippine carrier to provide service to this route using Boeing jets from the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA).
“Direct flights from our gateway in Clark will allow residents of central and northern Luzon, as well as in Manila area, to take advantage of a whole host of new opportunities. We launched the first flight to Bahrain on Dec. 18, 2009 which marked a long awaited step in the right direction for Middle East service,” company president and CEO Basilio Reyes said.
The airline offers low fare and high quality service to connect to Bahrain International Airport, a premier gateway providing convenient service in the Middle East and key European destinations.
A symbolic ceremony for the inaugural flight was held last Dec. 18 at the arrival lounge of Bahrain International Airport. The event was attended by airline and airport officials, including Assistant Undersecretary for Aviation Affairs Ahmed Nemat A. Abdul Rahim of the Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA).
In his welcome remarks, Abdul Rahim conveyed the greetings of His Highness Sheikh Ali Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, in launching Spirit of Manila Airlines’ first flight from its gateway hub in Clark to Bahrain.
“This new service (of Spirit of Manila) will further strengthen the current air services agreement between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Philippines, and we are assuring them our full support for the success of their operations as this will bring in more traffic to both countries,” according to Abdul Rahim.
Spirit of Manila Airlines is putting an aggressive stand to fly from Clark to support the government’s call to develop the freeport zone as an international gateway. Currently, the airline regularly flies to Macau, Taiwan and Bahrain.