The South East Asian Airline yesterday launched its inaugural flight from Manila to the Bacolod-Silay Airport bringing in 107 passengers using its Airbus 320, SEAIR Chief Executive Officer Patrick Tan, said.
Tan said this is part of the SEAIR nationwide network expansion to seven cities - Bacolod, Cebu, Iloilo, Kalibo, Tacloban, Davao, and Puerto Princessa that will be operated at the Manila Domestic Airport, or the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 4.
Bacolod-Silay will have a daily Manila-Bacolod flight at 2:50 p.m. and Bacolod-Manila at 4:35 p.m.
“We choose Bacolod City because of its major point commuter traffic and we want to bring our flavor of low cost travel to Bacolod and Silay cities and provide better transport for commuters, tourists, and overseas Filipino workers,” Tan said.
He said he hopes that they will have more passengers in the next months especially with the MassKara Festival coming in October. Commuters may book their flights through TripleStar local travel agent in Bacolod, Tan also said.
He said that Bacolod and Silay Mayors Evelio Leonardia and Jose Montilibano, respectively personally asked him to put a direct flight from Bacolod to HongKong and he said they will study the possibility.
Montelibano said the additional flight from a different airline company is advantageous to Silay as they are the gateway to Negros Occidental, and that he looks forward to having international flights as Tiger Airways has invested with SEAIR.
He added that this will also strengthen the tourism market in Silay and Negros Occidental.
Leonardia also said that he is happy that another airline has invested in Bacolod and Silay and assured SEAIR that it will not regret its decision.
He said there is so much potential in Negros Occidental as it has 13 cities. Passengers taking planes never run out and an increase of incoming and outgoing flights is needed and very timely as the tourism industry of Bacolod, Silay, and the province is developing, Leonardia added.
Meanwhile, Montelibano said that the e xpansion of 500-meter Bacolod-Silay airport runway and terminal will start in the first quarter next year.
The runway expansion costs P25 million while the airport terminal expansion costs P190 million, he said.
The 10.12-kilometer Bacolod-Silay Airport Access Road is expected to be completed by before December, he said. The project route alignment begins at the Bacolod Circumferential Road heading north, passing sugar cane plantation areas in Talisay City and then north to Bagtik in Silay City.
He said the access road will reduce the traffic in the downtown areas of Talisay and Silay cites.
Montelibano also said that the roads connecting the three cities will become first class and modern highways that will bring in more tourists to the province. *LTG
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