An official of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines-Davao (CAAP-Davao) bared on Thursday that Xiamen Air will resume servicing the Davao-Jinjiang air route by October this year.
“But no formal notice yet but going by our discussion with their team I think they will initially operate once a week to test the market. We are hopeful that if we go by their load factor in 2019 they might be able to see the opportunity,” Engineer Rex A. Obcena, manager of Davao International Airport (DIA), said in an interview.
Details will be announced soon.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Xiamen Air was servicing twice a week flights between Davao and Jinjiang.
Obcena also said that by October they are also expecting the resumption of the Davao-Hong Kong route but this time it will be serviced by Royal Air. The route was previously served by Cathay Dragon.
“But we are hopeful na mubalik sa atoa si Cathay Dragon. Pero nagsulti man sila nga Davao is still within their radar,” he said.
Royal Air will initially operate Davao-Hong Kong twice a week.
Obcena, however, said that there is no definite on the opening of the Davao-Japan route.
In 2019, All Nippon Airways (ANA) considered Davao City in its route expansion plan to be operated by Philippine Airlines. ANA HD, the airline’s parent firm, has a 9.5% stake in the outstanding shares of PAL Holdings, the parent company of Philippine Airlines. PAL and ANA also have several code-share flights.
However, the said route did not materialize.
“In 2019 I was informed naa gyud siya major headway as far as negotiation on the opening of the Davao-Japan route but understandably because of Covid hindi natuloy. I was informed the city government together with the tourism stakeholders are exerting efforts na mabalik tong Davao-Japan. Nothing is definite yet but we are hopeful kay dako man pud na tabang ang gina-exert sa city government of Davao and the tourism stakeholders,” Obcena said.
On flight operations, Obcena said flights at DIA are increasing and the international stakeholders are slowly coming back.
He said with the resumptions of the domestic and international flights at DIA the number of passengers daily is almost back to pre-pandemic statistics.
He said DIA’s daily average now is at 10,000 passengers both incoming and outgoing and going by that trend towards the year’s end, it will almost equal the 11,000 daily average passengers in 2019.
