Cebu Pacific has increased its focus on routes connecting the
Philippines and Singapore, with its most recent addition being a new
service from Clark International Airport to Singapore’s Changi Airport,
bringing the total number of routes to four.
The airline has also increased frequency on its Singapore-Davao
route, which serves the Davao Francisco Bangoy International Airport
(DVO) on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, to four flights a
week. Davao is renowned for its eco-tourism, beach, diving and
island-hopping leisure activities but it is also a key industrial and
agricultural trade zone in the southern Philippines.
Business links between the two economies are also driving demand.
Singapore is the Philippines’ largest Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) investor and in the top five foreign investors overall.
Roxanne Gochuico, corporate social responsibility specialist
marketing and customer experience, said: “We are developing routes from
Davao because we are optimistic that aside from leisure there are
business travelers who are keen to explore commercial opportunites
between Davao and Singapore.”
The Philippine Tourism Promotions Board has identified Davao City and
its surrounding region as one of the country’s key “bleisure”
destinations, offering a combination of business and leisure pursuits.
Cebu Pacific also has a three-a-day service between Singapore and
Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL), the country’s main
entry point.
The fourth route is from Cebu Pacific’s ‘hometown’ of Cebu in the
Visayan region, which like Davao has strong “bleisure” credentials, this
route is daily from Mactan Cebu International Airport (CEB).
Singapore is also the number one travel destination for Filipino
outbound travellers, fuelled not only by business and general leisure
travel but also by friends-and-family visits to the city’s large
Filipino community.
According to the Philippine embassy in Singapore, there are an
estimated 200,000 Filipinos living in Singapore, making it one of the
largest foreign communities in the Lion City. The two ASEAN partners
recently agreed to increase the quota of Filipino workers in Singapore
by 10,000, with half of these new workers allocated to the aviation
sector.