DAVAO City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) president Art Milan said they want local airlines to also have direct flights serving the Davao-Japan, Davao-Manado and Davao-Kuala Lumpur routes.
In an interview with SunStar Davao, Milan said they are still negotiating with the airlines of the proposed direct flights and they target to have these opened this year.
He said the four direct flights in Davao are from foreign airlines. Davao-Singapore direct flight is catered by SilkAir, Davao-Hongkong is by Cathay Dragons, Davao-Jinjiang is by Xiamen Air and Davao-Doha direct flight will soon be catered by Qatar Airways.
“Airlines are doing a lot of studies before they can open one because at the end of the day, it is all about the traffic. We hope that we can get a positive response especially from the local airlines,” Milan said.
“Puro foreign airlines so we are really requesting for local airlines can also reciprocate by also having direct flights,” he added.
The upgrading of the Japanese Consular Office in Davao City to a Consulate-General this year also encouraged the city to push for the Davao-Japan direct flight.
“The irony of [the upgrading], mag-issue sila diri but muadto lang gihapon ta og Manila or Cebu kay wala man tay direct flight (The irony is that, they issue here but there is still a need for us to go to Manila or Cebu because we do not have a direct flight here),” he said.
“This is why we are really trying to have this primarily as our response to the move of the Japanese to open the consulate general’s office into issuance of visas to Japan,” he added.
Davao-Manado direct flight was also prioritized by DCCCII since it is the gateway to the BIMP (Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippines) countries.
“We also want Davao-Kuala Lumpur to be opened again by Air Asia this year, we are now working on it,” he said.