AirPhil Express to open more international routes from Cebu

CEBU, Philippines – AirPhil Express recently announced to open up more international routes from Cebu, following the launching of its Cebu-Singapore-Cebu flight.

Airphil Express senior vice-president for marketing and sales Alfredo Herrera said that aside from the dynamic tourism sector in Cebu that pushed the demand for budget-fares in the inter-Asian destinations, the growing number of Filipino Overseas Workers (OFWs) also reinforced the airline's interest to expand overseas.

Yesterday, the company, a budget-airline arm of Philippine Airlines (PAL) formally started its seven flights a week from Cebu-to-Singapore.

This new international route offering of AirPhil Express is the latest addition to the airline's expansion in the regional market.

Singapore, being one of Asia's most visited places, is the first international destination of the airline in both Manila and Cebu hubs.

According to Herrera, originally, the company planned to first open a Hong Kong-Cebu-Hong Kong flight, however, due to the recent hostage taking that affected the traveling market between Hong Kong and Philippines, the plan was diversified to Singapore instead.

Besides, Herrera said the company sees a huge opportunity for its Singapore-Cebu (vice versa) routes, considering that the island nation is second home to Filipino professionals, and offers a variety of thrills for tourists, and museums.

"Consumer traffic to Singapore has increased significantly over the past couple of years due to the growth in tourism brought about by the investment in infrastructure that the Singapore government had aggressively undertaken these past years," said Herrera.

On the other hand, Herrera refused to give details on the company's future plans, saying that the company "never telegraph its moves" because of the stiff competition.

However, he said the company's next international route would be in a country, where there is large number of Filipinos working or residing. In this case, he gave a hint that Hong Kong might be the second international destination to fly from Cebu.

"We are very consumer-driven. Where the consumers are, we will go. We are up versus very big competitor who has resources," Herrera said.

At present, the company has flight entitlements in Singapore and Hong Kong, Herrera said.

He added that Airphil Express has one of the youngest fleets among budget airlines in the region which should give the company an edge in the competition.

The Cebu-Singapore daily flights will be utilizing A320 aircraft. Herrera emphasized that aside from its "personalized" service, the company also boasts of its marketing edge, which is giving free baggage check-in of up to 15 kilograms, while others charge each baggage that are checked in.

AirPhil Express, formerly known as Air Philippines, was re-launched under the new brand last March 2010 with the acquisition of two Airbus A320-200 aircraft. (FREEMAN)