The Davao International Airport from the air. MindaNews file photo by BOBBY TIMONERA
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 08 August) — A new international direct flight awaits Dabawenyos as budget airline Cebu Pacific Air will launch direct flights from the Francisco Bangoy International Airport here to Bangkok, Thailand’s Don Mueang International Airport starting October 28, 2024.
In a statement posted August 6, the airline said it will service the Davao-Bangkok-Davao route three times a week.
Cebu Pacific said the new route aims to cater to the growing demand for travel between Mindanao and Thailand, providing easier access to Bangkok’s rich cultural heritage, shopping districts, and culinary delights.
In addition to the international route, the airline will start daily flights from Davao to Caticlan and Puerto Princesa on October 27, 2024 and thrice-weekly flights between Davao and Tacloban on October 29, 2024.
“We are excited to restore international flights and operate additional domestic routes from our hub in Mindanao. Through Cebu Pacific’s extensive network and value-for-money fares, more travelers from Davao will now be able to discover what the Philippines and the rest of the world has to offer,” Cebu Pacific president and chief commercial officer Xander Lao said in a statement.
Last month, Department of Tourism – Region 11 director Tanya Rabat-Tan said that they target to reach four million tourist arrivals in the region.
She added they are confident the tourist arrivals target can be reached with the upcoming new flights of Cebu Pacific.
As of DOT’s latest data, tourist arrivals for the first quarter of 2024 reached 749,647, up 1.12 percent from the 741,329 recorded in the first quarter of 2023, data from DOT-11 showed.
Davao City posted the highest tourist arrivals with 370,145 in the first three months of 2024, an increase of at least 42 percent from 259,960 during the same period last year.
In a press conference last July 25, City Tourism Office officer-in-charge Jennifer Romero said they expect to reach 250,000 tourist arrivals in August alone with the surge of tourists to come to Davao because of the Kadayawan Festival and IronMan 70.3 marathon.
Currently, the international flights here are Qatar Airlines’ Davao-Doha-Davao every Saturday and the thrice-weekly Davao-Singapore-Davao flight being serviced by low-cost airline Scoot.
Royal Air Philippines directly flies twice weekly between Davao City and Hong Kong.
The Davao-Jinjiang, China direct bi-weekly flight was relaunched last October 29 by Xiamen Air. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
