To further boost tourism, improve business links and progressively expand the Flag Carrier’s inter-island network from Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA), Philippine Airlines (PAL) will mount more flights and routes out of Cebu, creating convenient connections in the coming months.
The new route to Ilocos Norte was launched on Dec. 15, 2023 along with flights to Bicol, Ozamis and southern Mindanao on the same week.
At a media conference at Radisson Blu Cebu, PAL president and chief operating officer, Captain Stanley K. Ng, said: “We at PAL look up to Cebu as a prime center of economic innovation, sustainable tourism and progress for the entire country. We are steadily building up our network of flights in and out of Mactan-Cebu with new routes in December and further plans for new connections in 2024.”
President of PAL Express, Rabbi Vincent Ang said: “We have grown flight frequencies by 10 percent from our Cebu Hub since last year, increasing from 16 to 20 domestic destinations and offering more than 260 weekly round-trip flights to and from Cebu. We look forward to serving more and more family travelers, adventurers, and business people this holiday season and beyond.”
On Dec. 15, 2023, PAL unveiled a brand-new twice-weekly route from Cebu to Laoag — the first such airlink between the Ilocos Norte capital and central Philippines. The resumption of routes to General Santos, Legazpi and Ozamiz will enable more travelers the convenience of direct flights from Cebu to these cities in Luzon and Mindanao. Regionally, PAL flies to Bangkok, Seoul (Incheon) and Tokyo (Narita) from Cebu (Mactan).
The flag carrier registered a net income of $348 million (approximately P19 billion) from January to September 2023, buoyed by rising travel demand as PAL flew 11 million passengers during this period.
Make 2024 a travel-PAL year!