CAUAYAN CITY, Philippines -- After eight years, domestic flights of two airlines in the country are allowed to offer connecting flights from Manila to the Cauayan Domestic Airport here in Isabela.

Cauayan City Mayor Caesar Dy said Cebu Pacific Airlines and Philippine Airlines would resume flights to the city's airport this July and August, respectively, after getting approval papers from the Air Transportation Office and the city government.

Dy, who was informed with official letters from the ATO and the said airline companies, said the inaugural flight of Cebu Pacific with an 18-seater plane was supposed to start on June 12 but was sidelined by the erratic weather condition.

When the airline officials scheduled their flight a week later, Typhoon "Frank" (international codename: Fengshen) arrived forcing them to cancel the trip schedule, he added.

Dy said he was unsure on what type of planes will be used by the said airline entities, although he was told that a Boeing or Fokker type of planes may be used.

Domestic flights were finally approved, Dy said, after at least P58 million funds were poured in by the government, with Japan Bank for International Cooperation Assistance, for modernization program.

Installed at the airport were the state-of-the-art navigational equipment, power generation facility, and the six-storey tower, it was learned.

The Cauayan city airport's runway was expanded to a two-kilometer-long from a kilometer-long runway to make it capable of accommodating Boeing 737 and C130, both large air carriers.

The airport had its last domestic flight in 2000. Asian Spirit airline used to ply its route in 1999 until its permit was revoked in 2000 following a plane crash in Cabarroguis, Quirino that killed 18 people there.

Philippine Airlines, on the other hand, terminated its Manila-Cauayan missionary flights in 1999 due to "irreversible business losses."

Earlier, the Regional Development Council in the region has sought the help of the Department of Transportation and Communication for the reopening and promotion of connecting flights to and from Manila through the city's domestic airport to boost economic development in the region.

The RDC then resolved that domestic airport flights would spur "development of an inter-modal transportation system where the land, air and maritime transport complement will be achieved."

The airport has been used only by six-seater light planes from Cyclone Airways in commuting passengers and ferrying cargo from mainland Isabela to the coastal towns of Palanan, Maconacon, Divilacan and Dinapigue.

"With the city's strategic location as a business hub, we hope to strengthen investments in Isabela," Dy added.

Domestic traffic records from the National Economic and Development Authority in Cagayan Valley earlier said that of the 45 out of 100 foreign and local air travelers went to Isabela for business and pleasure.

The Cauayan City council earlier passed a resolution seeking to reactivate the domestic airport to prop up President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's declaration of Cauayan City as one of the super-region development sites.

Vice Mayor Bartolome Malillin said the resumption of flights will further enhance business opportunities in the city.