PH, Korea agree to add 10,000 seats a week

INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Travelers will soon have more options to fly between Manila and Incheon as the Philippines and Korea have agreed to increase the weekly seat capacity for this route to 30,000 from 20,000, to boost tourism in both countries.

In a statement on Monday, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) announced that it had inked a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) with South Korea to improve air services relations.

Prior to this, the 20,000-passenger cap was in place for seven years.

While there is a limit imposed for Manila-Incheon route, flights from points outside Manila to elsewhere in Korea “continue to be open and without limits under the new MOU,” the DOTr explained.

This move is seen to support the tourism activities between the countries. South Korea is the Philippines’ top source of tourist arrivals, accounting for 27 percent of the total inbound visitors as of Apr. 24.

“The increase in capacity will be felt by the market once airlines take advantage of the opportunity to carry more passenger traffic between the capital cities of the two countries,” the DOTr said.

AirAsia Philippines head of communications and public affairs Steve Dailisan said they consider “this opportunity as a strong indicator that outbound tourism is in its sustaining phases, being backed by by the guests’ appetite for travel.”

“We will strategically plan the seat entitlement increase vis-a-vis our existing capacity and our future flight expansion plans to South Korea, especially during the onset of the winter season,” he added.

Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific is set to resume flights from Clark International Airport to Davao, General Santos, Iloilo and Puerto Princesa by October.

The return of the routes will expand its Clark network to 10 domestic and international destinations. Currently available flights from central Luzon operations are Boracay, Cebu, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Narita and Singapore.

Prior to this, Cebu Pacific also announced the launch of direct flights from Cebu to San Vicente, Palawan; Bangkok and Masbate by October. The airline will have 25 routes available in its Cebu hub by then.