The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) on Monday announced the resumption of commercial flights at Borongan Airport in Eastern Samar.
Philippine Airlines’s De Havilland Dash 8 – 400 launched its maiden flight, successfully landed at the airport from Mactan despite the rainfall.
CAAP spokesperson Eric Apolonio said the aircraft was utilized for the maiden flight which carried 73 passengers in its arrival to Borongan. PAL will fly to and from Borongan Airport twice a week, every Monday and Friday.
He said the flights were added to provide easier air travel from Eastern Samar to Manila, where passengers used to travel by land for three to four hours to the nearest airport in Tacloban City.
The maiden flight, which arrived at 11:59 a.m. was joined and welcomed by Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone, House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan, City Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda, PAL Vice President for Sales Salvador Britanico, PAL AVP for Network and Fleet Planning Bryan Ang, and CAAP Area 8 Manager Danilo Abareta.
“We would like to thank all of the stakeholders who have worked tirelessly to make this new service a reality. CAAP will remain committed to ensuring that the new flight routes are operated safely and efficiently. Hopefully, our travelers will take advantage of this new flights to Borongan and experience all that Borongan and Eastern Samar have to offer,” said CAAP Director General Captain Manuel Antonio Tamayo..
Borongan City is located in the Province of Eastern Samar, an emerging surfing site and home to tourist spots such as Ando Island, Divinubo Island, Hilangagan Beach, Matandugon Beach, and Baybay Boulevard.
Borongan Airport is a community airport with a pre-departure area that has a seating capacity of 75.
PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the new route of the airline establishes connectivity between Eastern Samar and the rest of the country via our Cebu gateway.
“With the new service, Eastern Samar residents may now connect to various parts of the country via our Mactan Cebu hub and vice versa. Borongan residents now have the convenient option take the one-hour PAL flight to Cebu instead of going through land or sea travel to get to Queen City,” she said.