It will be a lot easier to reach different locations in the Philippines with Philippine Airlines’ new domestic flight routes, among them the new Cebu-Clark route. This is in line with the company’s route expansion goals for the first quarter of 2017 to enable travelers to fly directly to their destinations without having to fly via Manila.

“We are introducing new domestic routes to allow travelers to reach their desired destinations without the need to transit in Manila. Passengers get to experience the unique PAL brand of service even on short flights,” PAL President Jaime J. Bautista announced.

The 5 new domestic routes for Cebu are:

1. Clark to Cebu
2. Cebu to Puerto Princesa
3. Cebu to General Santos
4. Cebu to Surigao
5. Cebu to Coron (Busuanga)

Other new PAL flight routes are:

1. Clark to Davao
2. Clark to Puerto Princesa
3. Clark to Coron (Busuanga)

(img credit: fb.com/flyPAL)

The Clark to Cebu route is scheduled four times a week and started on January 30, 2017. The flight will leave Clark at 7:00 am. However, the flights will start daily on March 26 of this year. The other four new routes from Cebu (to Puerto Princesa, General Santos, Surigao and Coron) will also start on March 26 of this year and provide flights daily.

All in all, the new domestic routes involving Cebu total 12, not counting the route from Cebu to Manila. Tourists and vacationers will find it more convenient to see other places in the country coming from Cebu. With the international airport in Cebu (the Mactan Cebu International Airport), more tourists are seen to opt to fly directly to Cebu from other countries when visiting other parts of the country. It used to be when tourists from outside the country had to fly to Manila first before going to their desired destinations.

PAL first operated the Manila to Cebu flight route after World War II in 1946. It used to do missionary flights to connect the islands as the country’s flag carrier. This also helped drive economic development in the rural areas.

Other New Routes

The Clark to Davao route began on February 1 and flights are provided three times a week. Flights leave Clark at 10:50 am. On March 26, flights will begin being provided 4 times a week.

The Clark to Puerto Princesa route will provide 3 flights a week beginning March 26, leaving Clark also at 10:50 am.

The Clark to Coron route will provide daily flights beginning March 26. For this service, Q300 56-seater planes will be used for these flights.

Other new routes from Clark will use the Airbus A321 jet which has 199 seats.

PAL began using Clark as a center of flight operations on December 16, 2016. That time it was a Clark-Caticlan service that did the job, which was later followed by Clark-Incheon, the first international flight from Clark, on January first of this year.

A 156-seater A320 will be used for flights going to Puerto Princesa and General Santos. A Q400 76-seater, on the other hand, will be used for flights to Surigao, and the Q300 for flights to Coron.