Davao City eyes three more flights to Manila

READY Davao International Airport is ready to accept new flights. —INQUIRER PHOTO

DAVAO CITY, Davao del Sur, Philippines — The local government here is eyeing the opening of three additional flights to and from Manila as the city further opens up the economy.

“We are ready for one flight each per airline for Manila,” city tourism officer Regina Rosa Tecson told a forum among business writers on Thursday organized by SM City Davao and San Miguel Foods.

Tecson said the local government was well-prepared to handle the additional influx of people into the city that these flights will bring, citing the health measures already in place at the airport.

Test required

For inbound passengers, the local government requires a negative result from a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test within 72 hours prior to entry into the city.

Those who don’t have RT-PCR test results will be swabbed and placed in isolation at the airport while waiting for at most two days for the result, the cost borne by the local government.

At present, Air Asia, Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines maintain flights between the city and Manila, Clark and Cebu airports. Each have two flights to and from Manila every day.

But according to Tecson, most of these travelers are individuals stranded in the national capital, and not tourists.

Hybrid flights

She added that the city government has also agreed to allow airlines to embark on hybrid flights, or flights carrying only inbound cargo and loads passengers for its turnaround.

Tecson said they were looking forward to the reopening of the Iloilo City airport so that flights from the city going there could also resume.

The city government would like to show to the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases that it is ready for the resumption of international flights, Tecson explained.

She disclosed that about two months ago, Mayor Sara Duterte requested that flights between the city and Singapore, and Hong Kong be reopened. The national government has yet to respond to the request, Tecson said.