PAL re-launches Cebu-Osaka flights

MANILA, Oct. 10 (PNA) - Starting October 26, 2008, the flag carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL) re-launches a direct service between Cebu and Osaka, giving Cebu its third link to economically booming North Asia and boosting Japanese trade and tourism to southern Philippines.

“The restoration of the PAL link between these two dynamic cities underscores the importance we place on both Osaka as a major source market of tourists and investors, and on Cebu as a destination of choice for the Japanese,” said PAL president Jaime J. Bautista.

Bautista said the service will initially operate two times weekly, with flight PR 410 departing from Cebu’s Mactan International Airport every Thursday and Sunday at 8:05 a.m. Arrival at Osaka’s Kansai International Airport is at 1:30 p.m.

The return service, PR 409, departs Osaka on the same days at 2:30 p.m. and arrives in Cebu at 6:00 p.m.

Newly delivered, modern Airbus A320 aircraft, which seat 12 passengers in Mabuhay (Business) Class and 144 in Fiesta (Economy) Class, are deployed on the route.

The Cebu-Osaka service was one of the flag carrier’s most popular tourist routes when it was introduced in 1994, contributing to the Japanese visitor boom that transformed Cebu into the country’s most vibrant destination after Manila.

But the service was halted in October 2001, when Japanese government travel advisories issued in the wake of the September 11 tragedy in the United States discouraged Japanese from traveling and weakened the market.

“With Cebu now established as a major international destination, we deemed it an appropriate time to reinstate the Osaka link in order to complement our direct Tokyo and Seoul services from Cebu,” said Bautista.

PAL currently operates a six-times-weekly service between Cebu and the Japanese capital Tokyo, and a four-times-weekly service between Cebu and Seoul, Korea.