ILOILO CITY, Sept 10 (PNA) -- Two airline companies have expressed interest in opening up international flights from Iloilo to Hong Kong and Singapore. These are in addition to international flights of Cebu Pacific Air that will start in November.
Representatives from Tiger Airways and the Dragon Air of Cathay Pacific recently visited the office of mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog as preliminaries for the proposal.
Meanwhile, Silk Air, a regional airline company of Singapore Airline, also expressed its interest to service foreign nationals from Manila to domestic destinations, specifically Iloilo. Its representatives visited the City Tourism and Development Office (CTDO) to gather data on arrivals in Iloilo.
Mabilog said that they were also in talks with the consular offices of Korea and China to possibly open consular offices in Iloilo following clamor, particularly from the Korean community here, to open a regular flight direct to their country.
“We are making due representation with their consular offices in Manila,” he said.
Travels to Korea and China require a visa. Mabilog said that they looked forward to a two-way traffic and not just their nationals coming to Iloilo but also travelers from here to the said countries.
Tourism officer-in-charge, lawyer Helen Catalbas, meanwhile, said that her office was very much willing to support the plan to open regular flights from Iloilo to Korea.
“Being number one in the tourist arrivals of the Philippines and of Western Visayas is a very good argument for them to open regular flight from their airport in Korea where they are coming from,” she said.
Mabilog and other local officials here have been pushing for the entry of international flights to Iloilo. The flights will not only make Iloilo and its adjacent provinces accessible to tourists but also to interested investors as well. (PNA)
