AirAsia to expand international routes

By Cheneen R. Capon
Low cost carrier AirAsia Philippines is targeting to expand its international presence as it opens the Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan routes after the resumption of the Davao-Manila route last Friday.
Speaking in last Friday’s Kapehan sa Abreeza, AirAsia Philippines chief executive officer lawyer Josephine Joy D. Cañeba said the company is working on getting the necessary permits to start the Manila-Hong Kong route by either May or June, and Manila-Japan as early as July.
She also said the Cebu-Singapore route will be launched by June.
Cañeba said the airline is operating three hubs, namely Manila, Cebu, and Kalibo in Aklan.
The Manila hub flies to six domestic destinations, namely Tagbilaran, Kalibo, Cebu, Davao, Tacloban, and Puerto Princesa. It flies to Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for its international destinations.
From the Kalibo hub, Air Asia flies to Incheon, South Korea, and Pusan in Shanghai, China.
The Cebu hub flies to Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and Kota Kinabalu.
Last Friday, AirAsia relaunched the Davao-Manila route with the arrival of maiden flight Z2611 captained by Giselle Bendong with first officer Iya Halageuña as the co-pilot.
“The only reason we pulled out earlier was we wanted to fix our operations,” she said. “And now that we’re confident that we can serve the Dabawenyos, we came back… but definitely, I see this increasing to more than three times,” Cañeba said.
The airline also celebrated its maiden flight to Kota Kinabalu from Mactan International Airport in Cebu with passengers of flight Z2 131 receiving welcome gifts from Sabah Tourism Board upon its arrival. AirAsia flies to Kota Kinabalu four times a week, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.
Cañeba said the company is planning to acquire three new airplanes for AirAsia’s fleet.
“We currently have 15 aircraft that are fully utilized 12 to 13 hours daily,” she said.
The airline is operating in over 100 destinations across 22 cities.