Tuesday, September 26, 2006 Malig: Cebu Pacific back at Clark after 4 years By Jun A. Malig Cognition
THE low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific is set to renew by October 12 its daily flights to and from Cebu City at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport inside the Clark Special Economic Zone with a promotional Cebu-Clark one-way fare of P99 if ticket is bought from September 19 until today. Travel date would be from October 12 to December 15.
Victor Jose "Chichos" Luciano, president of Clark International Airport Corp. (Ciac), said the local airline will be utilizing its newly acquired single-aisle Airbus A319, which can accommodate 124 to 142 passengers. He said the management of Cebu Pacific decided to renew flights here "to strengthen the economic ties between the growth centers in Central Luzon and the Visayas." He said the airline is eyeing Clark as one of its hubs.
The Cebu Pacific aircraft would be taking off at 10:20 a.m. from Cebu and arriving in Clark at 11:40 a.m. It would depart from Clark at 12:10 p.m. and arrives back in Cebu at 1:30 p.m.
Currently, Luciano said there are 43 international and 14 domestic passenger flights per week at DMIA, aside from the 60 international and domestic cargo fights. He said Ciac is in the process of expanding the passenger capacity of the airport and improving its security and other facilities.
The DMIA passenger terminal is currently being used by Korea-based Asiana Airlines, which has daily flights to Seoul; the Tiger Airways with thrice a day flights to Singapore, Macau and Thailand; Air Asia with daily flights to Malaysia and Thailand; China Rich Airlines with three times a week flights to Hong Kong; and chartered flights of Far Eastern Airlines. Asian Spirit and the South East Airlines also use the terminal for their domestic flights.
In the airline's website, Cebu Pacific president and chief executive officer Lance Gokongwei said the latest addition to the carrier's service will connect two of the country's fastest growing airports and regions.
"We are confident that the Cebu-Clark service will further boost business and tourism between these two key growth regions. Very importantly, this will also give more Filipinos in Central Luzon access to our year round low fares," he said.
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On Dec. 19, 2002 or after almost a year and two months of operation, Cebu Pacific officially halted its thrice-a-week Cebu-Clark-Cebu flights due to "low occupancy."
Citing statistics, Tourism Regional Director Ronaldo Tiotuico disclosed that the airline's 110-seater plane usually depart and arrive at the Clark with only 20 to 30 passengers at that time.
"The planning and marketing departments of Cebu Pacific said that it's a business decision. The reason is low occupancy. Their decision to have flights at Clark was business, they are not missionary flights. Because of few passengers, the airline could do nothing but stop its flights," he told this columnist sometime in December 2002.
Let's just hope Cebu Pacific's comeback flights at Clark would not be short-lived as the previous ones. Perhaps the growing number of South Korean tourists arriving at Clark would make a big difference this time around. And economic and business tie-up between Cebu and Central Luzon is not a bad idea at all.
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