THE Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) has further boosted its connectivity to South Korea, Cebu’s strongest foreign tourist market, following Air Busan’s inaugural flight from Incheon.
The airline’s maiden flight from Incheon to Cebu arrived on Nov. 13, 2019, with a total of 194 passengers.
“Air Busan has been a strong airline partner of MCIA through the years and we are glad to welcome their newest service to Incheon. Korea remains the top international market in Cebu and we proudly partner with Air Busan, one of the top carriers in Korea, in sustaining the growth that we achieved over the past years,” GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. president Louie Ferrer said.
The carrier will operate the Cebu-Incheon route daily using Airbus 321-200 with a 195-passenger capacity and mono class service.
Ferrer cited the consortium’s partnership with the MCIA Authority in stimulating the growth of the airport in the past few years.
“Through the strong support of the MCIAA, we are able to provide a robust and compelling business case to airlines such as Air Busan that fuels passenger and airline growth at MCIA which greatly benefits tourists and traveling Filipinos,” he said.
Currently, Air Busan offers six domestic routes and 32 international routes (including Incheon–Cebu).
The airline also has plans to continuously expand its route network to Japan, China, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and Guam.
“Air Busan has been in service for the past nine years in Cebu with only Busan-Cebu-Busan as its destination. As part of the company’s growth, we are eyeing to expand business opportunities by opening various schedules to customers and one of them is by providing an additional service to Cebu at the Incheon Airport, which is known to be the largest airport in Korea. Being the major gateway of travel in Korea, the influx of travelers will surely make a good business output,” said Air Busan Cebu manager Suzette Mae Agonia-Tacocong.
Ferrer said Cebu must be able to grow its outbound traffic to destinations like Korea.
“Our inbound traffic from Korea remains strong, but we are also exploring ways to help increase Filipino traffic going to Korea. We want to promote tourism to these countries as well,” he said. Currently, MCIA is connected to 23 international destinations and 28 domestic destinations. (CSL)