AirAsia Philippines help speed up economic recovery Central/Western Visayas flights

AirAsia Philippines’ flights to Dumaguete and Roxas City are expected to help stir up the economy of both cities as import-export and technology-related trade are expected to be driven by the new flight routes of the world’s best low-cost airlines.

AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla, CFO Ray Berja together with the Marketing, Branding, Government Affairs and Sales and Distribution team recently visited Dumaguete City to discuss possibilities of mounting additional flights following the inaugural flight on 8 April.    

Warmly welcomed by Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo and Dumaguete City Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo, AirAsia Philippines’ presence in Dumaguete is expected to provide guests with world-class service, competitive airfare, hassle-free booking and check-in as well as flight add-ons via the Super App.

AirAsia Philippines’ cargo operations arm Teleport projects a per flight minimum cargo load of 5 tons for Dumaguete and Roxas. This is expected to contribute to AirAsia’s improving cargo presence in Central and Western Visayas, ramping up the region’s import-export mobility. 

Last month AirAsia flew 812 cargo flights carrying a total of 3,736 tons of cargo.  This is more than half of what the airline flew in the same month of 2021 which was 301 flights with 855 tons of cargoes, and almost half of the pre-pandemic figure of 8,407 tons of cargoes with 2,928.

AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla said, “More than bringing in travelers and reviving our tourism industry, we would also like to support the industries of the local government units where we fly.  Our Dumaguete and Roxas City flights will not only strengthen our presence in Central and Western Visayas, but will also give people and industries great choices for flexible flight schedules which will suit their needs, be it travel or cargo services.”  

Listed as among the top destinations in the country for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Information Technology, Dumaguete is a perfect haven for professionals who are into publishing, medical transcription, animation, editing and other outsourcing jobs who are looking for a workcation site.    

A recent survey commissioned by AirAsia found 33 percent of the 1,605 respondents have already flown to Visayas in the past 5 years for employment, with 32 percent saying that they will travel again to Visayas for employment.  33 percent of the surveyed group chose Dumaguete when asked about their preferred destination should they fly again.

Roxas City, also known as the seafood capital of the Philippines, meanwhile is the highest fish producer in the Negros Occidental province.  In 2019, Roxas City produced 95.25 thousand metric tons of fish and marine products that were exported to Taiwan, Japan and the United States.