MANILA, PHILIPPINES – AirAsia Philippines is gearing up for a stronger travel demand this summer as the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) placed Metro Manila and 38 other provinces, mostly AirAsia destinations, under Alert Level 1 beginning today until Mar. 15.
Intrazonal and interzonal travel is allowed under Alert Level 1 for all public transport including airlines which will be at 100% capacity. This is expected to entice more people to travel, especially that all AirAsia destinations are now accepting vaccination cards for fully inoculated travelers. Partially vaccinated guests will also be accepted but subject to LGU travel requirements such as Antigen tests.
But even before the lowering of the alert level, AirAsia Philippines has already recorded a whopping 145,978 seats sold for travels from March 1 to 31, 2022 alone. This is an increase of 131% from the same month of 2021.
AirAsia Philippines Spokesperson Steve Dailisan said, “AirAsia Philippines attributes this significant increase to revenge traveling with relaxed travel protocols being implemented in most of its destinations. In fact, we are looking forward to sustaining full capacity in time for the various festivities in the different provinces we fly to. Our contribution to our LGU destinations moving forward is to bring as many guests as much as we can with strict adherence to standard health and safety protocols.”
The Malay-Boracay Tourism Office meanwhile recorded 47,500 local and foreign tourist arrivals in the island for the month of February alone. The Bohol Tourism Office also reported the same buoyancy as it recorded 4,196 tourist arrivals in January. Puerto Princesa Tourism Office on the other hand recorded 1,158 tourist arrivals from December 2021 – February 2022.
Seeing the impending influx of travelers, guests may take advantage of AirAsia Philippines’ 3.3 Summer Blowout and purchase from as low as P233 one-way base fare for popular destinations such as Boracay, Cebu, Bohol, Puerto Princesa, Davao and Cagayan De Oro.
AirAsia Philippines increased its flight frequency for the month of March. Flights to popular summer destinations like Caticlan have been increased from 18x weekly to 34x weekly; Kalibo which is another gateway to Boracay, from 7 x weekly to 11 x weekly; Cebu from 14 x weekly to 21 x weekly; Tagbilaran (Panglao) from 7 x weekly to 14 x weekly; Puerto Princesa from 7 x weekly to 14 x weekly. Flight frequency to other destinations such as Bacolod was also increased from 7 x weekly to 14 x weekly; Iloilo from 7 x weekly to 14 x weekly; Tacloban from 21 x weekly to 23 x weekly; and Cagayan from 7 x weekly to 9 x weekly.
“We are confident that summer 2022 is really the onset of recovery not only for AirAsia Philippines, but also to all other airlines in the country. We expect travel to flourish especially with different festive seasons we have from April to May. We are also expecting a sustained demand until May due to voters coming home to the provinces in preparation for the May 2022 election,” Dailisan added.
