PAL’s Cebu-Ho Chi Minh flights take off in May
Philippine Airlines (PAL) is set to operate the country’s first direct flights that link Central Visayas to the most populous city in Vietnam by May.
The flag carrier will mount Cebu-Ho Chi Minh flights thrice a week starting May 2.
Along with this, the Lucio Tan-led airline will increase its Manila-Hanoi flights to daily from the current five times a week by April 1.
PAL is expanding its network to Vietnam amid the growing interest in this popular Asian travel destination. It noted that Vietnam was the ninth most-visited destination by Filipinos last year.
“We look forward to boosting tourism, strengthening Cebu’s position as the nation’s emerging business and leisure gateway and building on the strong and friendly relations between Vietnam and the Philippines,” PAL president and chief operating officer Stanley Ng said.
“We are excited to invite Vietnamese tourists and business people to take the short hop to Cebu to discover the wonders of our islands and enjoy the warm hospitality of our people,” he added.
PAL will deploy Airbus A321 jetliners, each with a seating capacity of 199 passengers, for the new route.
The carrier has been beefing up its network amid the projected growth in air travel this year.
Last month, PAL announced it would resume flights from Manila to Beijing by March 30. Its other routes to China are Shanghai, Xiamen and Quanzhou.
Osaka, too
PAL also restarted its Cebu-Osaka direct flights last December as more Filipinos travel to Japan. The airline also facilitates routes from Cebu to Narita and from Manila to Nagoya, Narita, Haneda and Fukuoka.
For the local network, PAL will increase the frequency of flights between Clark and Busuanga—the gateway to Coron, Palawan—to daily flights from four weekly services by March 1.
In total, PAL will offer 42 weekly flights to Busuanga following the increased frequency. It also operates flights to the Coron gateway from Manila and Cebu.
