The Philippines’ two largest airlines launched this month new flights to Papua New Guinea and Japan.
Philippine Airlines on December 18 commenced thrice-weekly flights to Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, as part of its expansion into the Oceania region.
“After its successful inaugural in Cairns and Auckland, PAL continues its expansion in the Oceania Region by resuming flights in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,” PAL president and chief executive officer Jaime Bautista said in a statement.
He added that the service allows PAL “to be of service to the travel needs of tourists and businessmen both from Manila and Papua New Guinea.”
The airline said the Port Moresby service, which utilizes PAL’s 156-seater Airbus A320, “will provide an easy route for Filipinos living and working in Papua New Guinea to their native home, while also allowing residents of Papua New Guinea to discover and connect to PAL’s 30 domestic and 39 international destinations.”
PAL said around 30,000 Filipino professionals are based in Papua New Guinea.
Port Moresby will become PAL’s 39th international destination. Earlier this month, the airline launched flights to Cairns, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand.
Meanwhile, budget carrier Cebu Pacific Air on December 17 launched its thrice-weekly Manila-Fukuoka service, expanding its network in Japan.
Japan is one of Cebu Pacific’s most popular international destinations from the Philippines, with Filipino tourist arrivals to the country surging by 44% to more than 211,000 from January to October 2015 compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data from the Japan National Tourism Organization.
Aside from Fukuoka, Cebu Pacific operates direct flights from Manila to Osaka, Tokyo (Narita) and Nagoya, and from Cebu to Tokyo (Narita).
Image courtesy of samuiblue at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
