Philippine Airlines And Cebu Pacific Cancel All Flights To Caticlan

[Guest OceanBreeze]

The two major domestic airlines confirmed on Thursday they had scuttled

[Mr Lee]

Thank you for posting the information and welcome to the forum. If you do not mind, possibly make a post in the introductions section and tell us a little about yourself.

[Jollygoodfellow]

Even Seair is the only Airline to Caticlan right now they extend their PHP 350 fare to Boracay:

Budget airline Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAIR) has extended its lowest fares promo to Boracay. In a statement, SEAIR said that "from now until October 15, 2009, travelers can fly to the famed beach destination for as low as P350 all-in." To avail of the promo, SEAIR said passengers "simply have to purchase their tickets online at www.FlySeair.com until October 15, 2009." SEAIR also said the promo offers other advantages for Caticlan-bound passengers such as complimentary transfers from the Caticlan airport to Boracay beach.SEAIR also recently launched SEAIR Travel Care."For a small additional fee, passengers are assured of a worry-free travel experience as SEAIR Travel Care provides travel insurance coverage for luggage losses or damages and other travel inconveniences. It is available online at www.FlySeair.com. SEAIR Travel Care is powered by Prudential Guarantee and Assurance, Inc. (PGAI)," the firm said. SEAIR now flies directly from Manila to El Nido twice a week.El Nido is a group of islands with good sites for divers and snorkelers as well as beach and island-hoppers. It has "over 30 dive sites and more than 50 beaches and hidden lagoons."SEAIR also flies five times weekly to Basco, Batanes during the Batanes summer (June to August).SEAIR is the nation's second-oldest airline and has flown almost 3 million passengers to local destinations including Puerto Princesa, Tablas (Romblon), Clark, Zamboanga, Jolo, and Tawi-tawi, the firm said. SEAIR also offers flights from Boracay and Puerto Princesa to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.SEAIR will soon fly to Baguio City and Masbate, the company said.Go to www.FlySeair.com for the "best deals" or call (+632) 8490100 for more information.

Source: ph.news.yahoo

I might be wrong but I think Sea Air have smaller planes,probably why they can land there without problems.I think it is the correct thing to do with the other airlines,safety first! :AddEmoticons04230:

[Jollygoodfellow]

Caticlan airport reopens in September, safety upgrade underwayAccording to Philstar from today:

The Caticlan airport reopens in September for bigger aircrafts, following the order of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) to commence initial phase of runway rehabilitation, which involves contouring of the bordering hill.The DOTC issued the order to the Caticlan International Airport Development Corp. (CIADC), a private consortium which was granted the 25-year airport upgrade project.Recent flight incidents in Caticlan prompted the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to prohibit larger aircrafts of Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Zest Airways from using Boracay's closest gateway. At present, the airport is limited to one way landing or take-off for smaller planes."With the wind factor and the hill obstructing the airstrip, pilots perform an abrupt maneuver to a steep degree of ascent for larger planes. Passenger safety is our priority in rehabilitating the runway," revealed Secretary Ace Durano, representing the Department of Tourism (DOT), one of the board members of CAAP."The CAAP, concerned government agencies and private sector are consolidating all efforts to complete the runway upgrade. We have been assured that it will be fully operational in September, the start of Boracay's peak season," added the tourism chief.Durano further said that though arrivals in Boracay were largely unaffected by the new stipulation, with flights diverted to Kalibo, and Caticlan airport left open to smaller planes of Southeast Asian Airways (Seair), the runway reopening is vital to the long-term infrastructure development of the airport. Concerns of rerouted airline companies have also mounted, according to DOT Undersecretary Eduardo Jarque, Jr., "Redirected flights to Kalibo involve land transfer costs which are shouldered by the airlines. Likewise, tourists looking to spend a longer time in Boracay end up consuming two hours more on their travel by bus."Restructuring of the runway involves contouring of the bordering hill, as an alternative to flattening out the mound which will take four to five months.

Source:philstar

Well this sounds like good news,I know myself when choosing some where to go depends somewhat on how easy it is to get there and back.I don't think I would want to spend 2 hours on a bus to get there,actually after my last bus adventure I know I wont be spending 2 hours on a bus. :thumbsup:

[Jollygoodfellow]

CEB flies back to Caticlan March 1

The Philippine's number one domestic airline, Cebu Pacific (CEB) resumes Caticlan operations starting March 1, 2010, after an almost 7-month hiatus from flying to the Godofredo P. Ramos Airport, the gateway to Boracay. CEB suspended its flights to Caticlan last July 10, 2009, following the advice of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) regarding the airport's runway length and one-way runway rule. According to a CAAP memo dated January 25, 2010 however, CEB aircraft can now take off both ways in the Godofredo Ramos Airport runway. In the event of unavoidable airport conditions, flights to Caticlan may still be diverted to Kalibo. Starting March 1, 2010, CEB will gradually reintroduce its Caticlan flights into service, beginning with the transfer of four Manila-Kalibo and one Cebu-Kalibo flights to Caticlan. This transition is meticulously paced to give time for the retraining of CEB's ATR pilots on the Caticlan route. The airline expects to resume full Caticlan operations by March 28, 2010, with 11 Manila-Caticlan-Manila flights and 1 Cebu-Caticlan-Cebu flight daily. This gives CEB the most number of airline seats to and from Caticlan. "CEB is pursuing this gradual transition to Caticlan to make sure our ATR pilots are properly re-certified to operate the route. In as much as we would like to resume our full Caticlan schedule immediately, our main priority will always be the safety of our passengers," said CEB VP for Marketing and Distribution Candice Iyog. "We hope passengers on our March 1-27 flights can support us in this transition period. We are very happy we can once again open our Caticlan route to our Boracay-bound passengers, and offer the same great value fares we offer to our 31 other domestic destinations," she added CEB started its Caticlan operations in February 2008, and has carried more than 340,000 passengers in and out of Caticlan without incident. It uses its brand-new ATR 72-500 aircraft, which is part of the youngest fleet in the Philippines.

Source: here

hmm not sure if I want to be on the first test flights,lolHave you noticed if business was down when the flights were not operating or did the tourist find other ways to get there?

[Jollygoodfellow]

Have you noticed if business was down when the flights were not operating or did the tourist find other ways to get there?

Well, I heard that at certain resorts at Boracay there were more vacant rooms availabe, even at peak season. I can`t confirm it .. We are fully booked since last year already for "Chinese New Year" period now in February .. and we still receive almost every day reservation requests for mid February. Ok, our guests are mostly budget minded travellers and maybe *****star, expensive front beach resorts are more concerned because of the worldwide financial crisis, which also effects the travel market. I expected more biz problems because of negative Phil related headlines like the Amputuan massacre, Mayon eruption, Election campaign incidients and of cause the Caticlan Airport problems etc. Anyway .. SEAIR was also operating to Caticlan Airport and the other airlines diverted to Kalibo Airport. Thats also no problem.. ticket fare Manila - Kalibo is much cheaper than to Caticlan and the 90 minutes aircon L300 ride from Kalibo to Caticlan costs only 200 Php. Also the free luggage allowance for Kalibo flights is higher than to Caticlan due to bigger aircrafts.BTW, here a Boracay related article with some figures, which confirms that Borcay tourism was not negative effected in 2009:2009:

Boracay's total number of visitor arrivals last year registered 649,559, based on data released by the Provincial Tourism Office here.

2008:

In 2008, visitor arrivals reached 634,263,

OK since I really know nothing of Boracays general location, what is the easiest way and perhaps the quickest way to get there from Cebu.I remember reading there was a long bus trip from the airport before.