Airport needs Palace’s declaration for international flights

THE Iloilo airport of international standards in Cabatuan, Iloilo, still needs a presidential declaration for it to be affirmed the international gateway of Western Visayas, a tourism official said.

Department of Tourism Regional Director Helen Catalbas said an endorsement and declaration from the tourism department will lead for the presidential declaration of such purpose.

Senator Franklin Drilon, who hails from Iloilo, assured he will help seek for the official declaration from the Office of the President.

He said, however, that airlines are private carriers and international flights will be a big challenge for the tourism department to attract tourists to come to the city.

He said tourism products in Iloilo must be repackaged and made attractive for tourists to come.

Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, meanwhile, said the Iloilo airport catering to international flights will propel the city to become a premier city by 2015.

Catalbas said the airlines are just waiting for the official declaration that will lead to the official assignment of customs, immigration and quarantine personnel at the airport.

She said though that the Kalibo airport in the province of Aklan has not been declared as an international gateway but it caters to international flights with tourism focus on Boracay Island.

International flights to and from Iloilo and Hong Kong and Iloilo and Singapore are slated in the last quarter of 2012, probably on the last week of October or first week of November, Catalbas said.