MANILA, Philippines - Airphil Express senior vice-president for marketing and sales Alfredo Herrera said the country’s leading budget airline has chosen Singapore as its first international destination because of its potential for growth.
“Consumer traffic to Singapore has increased significantly over the past couple of years due to the growth in tourism brought about by the investments in infrastructure that the Singapore government had aggressively undertaken these past years. We expect growth trends to continue which is why we are investing in this market,’’ said Herrera.
Singapore has a large Filipino population of 200,000 which served as a core market for airlines but Airphil Express is looking beyond this market for growth.
“We chose Singapore because of its strategic value. We see strong potential in the tourism market from Singapore to the Philippines to explore the beaches, diving, mountains and cultural diversity that the country has to offer,’’ said Herrera.
Herrera said Airphil Express has one of the youngest fleet among budget airlines in the region which should give the company a leg up in the competition.
Airphil Express will launch its Cebu-Singapore flight and have daily flights from Cebu to Singapore and vice versa through its brand new A320 aircraft.
The A320 belongs to the Airbus family which is recognized as a leader in providing exceptional levels of comfort to passengers travelling with a light pocket. The A320 offers optimized seating, leg and elbow space with ample and easy to access stowage space. The A320 is considered as one of the safest narrow-body aircraft with its advanced avionics system.
Aside from having safe and roomy aircraft, Airphil Express also distinguished itself from other budget airlines with its more accessible flight schedule (“We bring you to Singapore within the day and not in the wee hours of the morning”); superior facilities with passengers flown going through Changi Airport’s Terminal-2, a full service international terminal, while others have access only to budget terminals; and a generous free baggage check-in of up to 15 kilograms (budget airlines charge each baggage that are checked in).