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DAVAO
CITY—Another Indonesian airliner would serve the Davao
City-Manado City of Indonesia to revive one of the
earliest air links of the Brunei
Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippines-East Asean
Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga).
Wings
Air announced it would serve the route with a weekly
flight, following the encouraging turnout of passengers
in the first chartered flight last week, the Mindanao
Economic Development Council (Medco) disclosed.
Wings
Air is a subsidiary of Lion Air of Indonesia.
“Our
flights so far are fully booked,” said Daniel Jacob, the
airline’s district engineer for Manado and East
Indonesia, citing it as an indication of viability
market of the Davao-Manado flights.
Wings
Air would use a 52-seater aircraft for its once-a-week
regular flight, which could start after concluding its
series of chartered flights this month. The smaller
craft could make up on cargo loading what it would not
fill on the available passenger seats.
Medco
said the revival of the Davao-Manado route “brings back
business traffic between the two neighboring cities
which have been closely linked through BIMP-Eaga.”
Wings
Air replaces Sriwijaya Air, which used to ply the route
but suspended operations in December last year.
Dreamworld Travel and Tours, the official ticketing and
booking office of Wings Air, said most of their
passengers booking their flights, and those using the
chartered flights, were crewmen of some Indonesian
fishing vessels in General Santos and Davao City who
opted to fly back home whenever ships are not available.
“Some
are also overseas Filipino workers going back and forth
to Indonesia,” according to Jove Flores, the agency’s
officer in charge.
According to Flores, a roundtrip ticket for Davao-Manado
costs $305 and a one-way ticket, $205. Passengers can
also avail themselves of connecting flights to Jakarta
and Bali, Indonesia, via the Davao-Manado route.
Flying
time is about an hour and 10 minutes.
Baby
Montemayor, chairman of the BIMP-Eaga Tourism Council,
welcomed the resumption of the air service between the
two cities and hoped that their respective groups of
tour operators would also resume joint tourism
promotions of the two cities.
Montemayor said she looked forward to wider
participation from Mindanao in the forthcoming
Ecotourism Conference in Manado this October with the
air connection.
Alex
Divinagracia, president of Davao Travel and Tours
Association, said traders plying the route would benefit
more in the resumed flights, aside from Manado City
itself, which enjoys a reputation as a destination for
world-class diving.
His
travel agency, Global Wings Travel and Tours, has been
ticketing traders from Davao to Manado and noted that
there has been a sustained traffic of passengers along
the route.
“Traders
usually stay from two to four days in Manado,” he said,
adding that his clients are usually stall owners of
Aldevinco complex, Davao’s most popular one-stop
pasalubong center.
Medco
said that Davao and Manado are two of Eaga’s developed
urban centers which have sustained trade and tourism
activities over the years.
These
two proximate Eaga areas are situated along the southern
part of Mindanao and North Sulawesi, Indonesia, and have
established twinning ties through a sister-city
relationship that has helped enhance the ongoing free
exchange of tourism, sociocultural and economic benefits
in both cities.
Travel
from Mindanao and Palawan to any area in BIMP-Eaga
continues to enjoy travel-tax exemption running through
September 2008. |
