AirAsia Philippines said Tuesday said it expects to sell half a million seats for international flights in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The budget airline said Taipei, Incheon, Osaka, Narita, Hong Kong and Bangkok remain the top destinations for Filipinos with over 300,000 seats sold for travel in the next 90 days as of Oct. 2 this year.
“AirAsia Philippines continues to herald the return of international tourism through affordable and convenient flights. In fact, we see our performance on international flights increasing to half a million seats sold before the end of December 2023 which further underscores that more and more travelers are now making the choice of flying with the World’s Best Low-Cost Airline,” said AirAsia Philippines communications and public affairs country head Steve Dailisan.
“We hope to flourish in the APAC next year as we open more destinations following the increase in aircraft fleet,” he said.
AirAsia Philippines opened the month of October with its Manila to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo, and Macao flights commencing daily from the NAIA Terminal 3. Manila to Guangzhou and Shenzhen continue to fly out of NAIA T3 four-times weekly while flights to Kota Kinabalu, Kaohsiung, and Shanghai fly continue to depart and arrive three-times weekly.
The airline said that aside from increasing the frequency of flights from the NAIA Terminal 3, it plans to open additional routes to Japan and China via the Clark International Airport, Mactan-Cebu International Airport and Kalibo International Airport.
AirAsia Philippines is offering Winter Deals for booking from Oct. 2 to 8 for travel from Oct. 2, 2023 to April 30, 2024. Winter Deals offer a one-way base fare of P880 to P4,590 depending on the destination.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) set the fuel surcharge for the month of October at Level 6 which translates to additional fees from P610.37 to P 844.16 per one-way trip per passenger for APAC destinations.
AirAsia Philippines sees this to have less of an impact on airfare as ongoing promos such as the Winter Deals are expected to cushion the effect of the surcharge.
“We invite our guests to take advantage of ongoing sales as tickets bought under existing promos will no longer be affected by any future fuel surcharge,” Dailisan said.