THE Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) said a new airline company will be servicing Singapore-Davao-Singapore three times a week starting November 2021.
CTOO Head Generose Tecson told SunStar Davao in a phone interview on Wednesday, September 29, that Scoot TigerAir, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, will be operating its direct inbound-outbound international flight to the city in the last quarter of the year.
Tecson made the confirmation days after Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio broke the news on Monday, September 27.
She said Scoot will be taking over the services of Silk Air, which previously serviced the said route.
The official said this will be in addition to the current international flights direct to the city.
Tecson said Philippine Airlines (PAL), which on September 24 started direct commercial flights from Dubai to Davao City, started its service but only for inbound flights. She said more flights are lined up in October.
PAL is currently inquiring if the city can accommodate flights from other Asian cities, the official said.
Tecson said all passengers from international flights are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival.
As part of arrival protocols, the passengers were swabbed 48 hours before the flight and must present negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results under City Ordinance 0477-21, Series of 2021 or the Mandatory Testing Prior to Entry into Davao City via the Davao International Airport.
According to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine in Davao City before proceeding to their final destinations.
In the quarantine facility, ROFs are situated on the higher floors. For instance, if the designated hotel has ten floors, only the seventh to the tenth floor shall be occupied by the ROFs.
The city had implemented this when the city started accepting repatriation flights in July this year.
With the current passenger cap on various airports in the country, as regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), airline companies are currently rerouting to other key airports.
"Marami ‘yatang gustong umuwi (Many wanted to return home), so they have to look for other airports kung saan pwede sila maka-land and maka-accomodate 'yung (where they can land and accommodate) passengers for quarantine," she said.
In terms of local flights, she said the city is currently catering 700 inbound passengers to the city, mostly from Manila.
Despite the gradual resumption of international flights in the city, Tecson clarified that the city will only be catering to passengers with essential purposes and that tourism is still not allowed.
Tecson said she is confident that the Francisco Bangoy International Airport (Davao International Airport) can accommodate additional flights.
Based on its report, the City Government recently fully vaccinated 15,000 of the tourism sector.
Tecson said the increase of fully vaccinated individuals is a huge help in allowing the economy to slowly open up, particularly the tourism industry that has been heavily hit by the pandemic.
The City Government suspended all flights in mid-March 2020 during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the region. The airport resumed accepting local flights in June this year.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio issued Executive Order No. 26 on May 6, 2021, allowing the resumption of all kinds of flights, such as scheduled international flights, unscheduled domestic commercial flights (chartered), and other general aviation flights to and from Davao City.