DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 06 August) – Budget airline Royal Air Philippines will launch its twice weekly direct flights between Davao City and Hong Kong on October 8, 2023.
Ed Novillas, the airline’s chief executive officer, in an interview uploaded on the social media page of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) on Saturday, said they are launching the Davao-Hong Kong flights “to give people in Mindanao the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong as we normalize. That’s our idea so that instead of going to Manila, you can fly directly to Hong Kong.”
Travel time is estimated at three hours and 25 minutes.
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific used to service the Davao-Hong Kong-Davao route five times weekly before international flights from Davao were suspended in early 2020 due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
At present, the international flights from Davao International Airport are Qatar Airlines’ Davao-Doha-Davao and Davao-Singapore-Davao being serviced by Singapore Airlines and its low-cost subsidiary Scoot.
Last May 31, Arturo Milan, co-chair of the Regional Development Council, said that aside from Hong Kong, the XiamenAir has plans to revive the Davao-Jinjiang-Davao flights three years after its suspension due to the pandemic.
He added that they are also trying to revive flights to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia from Davao.
Milan said the government plans to continue the expansion of DIA to accommodate more flights and passengers, and the possibility of constructing additional international airport in another location.
He said among the areas being considered as another location for a new airport are Tagum City, Panabo City, Davao City, Island Garden City of Samal, and Davao Occidental.
Data released by the City Tourism Office reported a total of 897,406 visitors in 2022, significantly lower compared to the 2.5 million reported in 2019, the banner year for the city’s tourism industry.
The tourism office targets 2.5 million visitors in 2024 and 2.7 million in 2025. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
