GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC) announced Sunday the resumption of boutique airline AirSwift’s Cebu-El Nido service with a ranking executive saying the flights will help “reinvigorate” the local economies of Cebu and Palawan.
Louie Ferrer, the president of GMCAC, said the twice-weekly flights of AirSwift between Cebu and Palawan is a welcome development for the travel and tourism industry, as the country slowly eases into normalcy, thanks to the continued vaccination drives of the government and the private sector.
“We are pleased by the resumption of AirSwift’s Cebu-El Nido service. For us, it indicates that the recovery of travel and tourism in the Philippines, especially in smaller yet no less impressive destinations such as El Nido is well underway,” he said.
AirSwift flies out of the El Nido Airport to the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) every Monday and Friday. It first introduced the service in 2015, but had to stop due to the pandemic.
“We at MCIA continue to promote safe and responsible tourism while helping to reinvigorate the local economies of Cebu and Palawan through the reopening of this route,” Ferrer said.
For his part, Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) General Manager Julius G. Neri Jr. reminded passengers to follow government guidelines for safe travel during the pandemic.
“As we slowly reopen the economy through the resumption of domestic flights like the Cebu-El Nido services of AirSwift, we remind our passengers to continue observing the minimum public health standards to ensure the health and safety of everyone,” he said.
Fully-vaccinated tourists travelling to El Nido are required to get an approved S-Pass Travel Permit, which can be obtained by submitting a copy of their Department of Tourism (DOT)-accredited hotel booking confirmation, an accomplished VaxCert via https://vaxcert.doh.gov.ph/ or Covid-19 vaccination card/certificate, and roundtrip tickets.
Meanwhile, partially vaccinated or unvaccinated tourists are required to present a negative RT-PCR swab test or saliva test result taken 72 hours prior to the time or arrival, a copy of their DOT-accredited hotel booking confirmation, and their roundtrip tickets.