MANILA, Philippines - Budget airline Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific) is set to become the first low cost carrier to mount direct flights to Narita and Nagoya in Japan starting March 30 next year.
Candice Iyog, vice president for marketing and distribution of Cebu Pacific, said the budget airline would also more than double its flight frequency by flying daily through four additional weekly flights to Osaka starting Dec. 20.
“With Cebu Pacific’s trademark lowest fares, travelers from Japan now have Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka as jump-off points when exploring the Philippines’ world-renowned beach and diving destinations,†Iyog said.
The airline would use brand new Airbus A320 aircraft for its daily direct flights to Narita and four times a week flights to Nagoya starting March 30.
The direct flights to Narita and Nagoya as well as the additional flights to Osaka is in line with the airline’s efforts to boost tourism arrivals to the country as part of the government’s efforts to lure 10 million tourists by 2016.
“This is very much in line with the government’s tourism agenda, and the airline’s commitment to boost Philippine tourism. With more flights to the Philippines, we believe Japan has the potential to be as big as South Korea when it comes to foreign tourist arrivals,†she added.
The new routes would also benefit Filipinos working and living in Japan.
“We are proud to offer more low-fare great-value options to and from Japan, for the benefit of leisure and business travellers, as well as overseas Filipino workers based there. We continue flying to where Filipinos are,†Iyog said.
Aside from the three routes to Japan, Cebu Pacific also flies to 21 other international destinations including Bali, Bangkok, Beijing, Brunei, Busan, Dubai, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Incheon (Seoul), Jakarta, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Phuket, Shanghai, Siem Reap, Singapore, Taipei and Xiamen.
The Philippines and Japan inked a new air service agreement lifting a ban preventing airlines from the Philippines from mounting additional and increasing the number of flights and allowing unlimited flights to points outside Manila and Haneda.
The new agreement increased the number of flights between Manila and Narita to a total maximum 400 per week from the previous 119. It also allowed 14 flights per week between Manila and Haneda as well as unlimited air traffic rights between points in the Philippines except Manila and points in Japan except Haneda.