Flag carrier Philippine Airlines has announced it is expanding its flight services from Cebu and upgrading Zamboanga to a mini-hub with the recent launching of three new domestic routes.
On Dec. 15, PAL introduced the Cebu-Zamboanga, Cebu-Dipolog and Zamboanga-Tawi Tawi service flight operations, according to its spokesperson Cielo Villaluna.
The airline´s new twice-daily Cebu-Zamboanga flights depart Cebu at 5:40 a.m. (PR-2991) and at 2 p.m. (PR-2995) every day, and arrives in Zamboanga at 7:10 a.m. and at 3:30 p.m., respectively.
Return flights PR-2992 and PR-2996 leave Zamboanga at 12 noon and 4 p.m. and touch down in Cebu at 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.
On the other hand, the Zamboanga International Airport gains hub status as PAL launches the daily Zamboanga-Tawi-Tawi flights, leaving Zamboanga at 8 a.m. via PR-2495 and arriving in Tawi-Tawi’s Sanga-Sanga Airport at 9:30 a.m.; while flights from Tawi-Tawi leave at 10am via PR-2496 and touch down in Zamboanga at 11:30 a.m.
Tawi-Tawi becomes PAL’s 31st domestic gateway, as the airline introduces daily flights and a full-service product between the Philippines’ southernmost province and Zamboanga.
Additionally, Filipino and foreign tourists can now travel more conveniently to Tawi-Tawi from PAL’s hubs in Manila and Cebu, via Zamboanga.
The four times weekly Cebu-Dipolog flights operate via PR-2559 which leaves Cebu at 7 a.m. and touches down at Dipolog at 8 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The return flights PR-2560 take off from Dipolog at 8:30 a.m. and arrive in Cebu at 9:30 a.m. on the same days of the week. The new PAL service from Cebu offers the earliest arrival for travelers wanting a full free day in Dipolog or proceeding to historic Dapitan City, the Dakak resort area or other attractions in the province of Zamboanga del Norte.
Villaluna said PAL’s new air linkages not only enhance accessibility and travel convenience but also help promote economic growth and business activity in the western regions of Mindanao.
The flag carrier, which recently won the World’s Most Improved Airline award from Skytrax, is expanding flights and connections to and from various Mindanao gateways.
In addition to Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga and Dipolog, PAL also serves Davao, Siargao, Camiguin, General Santos City, Butuan, Ozamiz City, Cagayan de Oro and Clark.
PAL has beefed up its hub network from Cebu, from which PAL now serves a total of 17 destinations, namely: Bacolod, Busuanga, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Caticlan, Camiguin, Davao, Dipolog, General Santos, lloilo, Kalibo, Legazpi, Ozamiz, Puerto Princesa, Siargao, Zamboanga, and Tacloban.
ln the meantime, the following routes from Cebu are now operating on increased frequency effective from December 15:
Cebu – Busuanga – Cebu – from 14 to 21 flights weekly; and Cebu – Butuan – Cebu – from 14 to 21 flights weekly.
The following routes from Cebu are now operating on increased frequency effective December 17: Cebu – Legazpi – Cebu – from 7 to 10 flights weekly; Cebu – Tacloban – Cebu – from 14 to 17 flights weekly.
With the brand new routes and additional frequencies on existing routes, PAL now operates a total of 294 weekly flights from its Cebu hub from its previous total of 256.
