Cool breeze and cultural performan-ces greeted the 84 passengers of Philippine Airlines’ inaugural commercial flight from Cebu Mactan International Airport that arrived at the Baguio Loakan Airport at 10:29 a.m. on Dec. 16.
Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, Department of Tourism Usec. Mae Elaine T. Bathan and PAL executives were among the passengers of the inaugural flight. They were welcomed by Baguio Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong with executives from the Baguio Tourism Council led by Gladys Vergara.
PAL’s PR C5903 took off Mactan Cebu International Airport at 8:50 a.m. and arrived at the Baguio Loakan Airport in less than two hours.
PAL Chief Operations Officer, Capt. Stanley Ng said he was happy and proud to have landed at the Loakan Airport for the first ever Cebu-Baguio flight in history marking the official reopening of commercial flights at the Loakan Airport.
“This is a result of years of planning and is a historic event for PAL. In 1941, the first flight from Manila to Baguio took off serviced by PAL and making history in technological innovation,” Ng said.
He said the Baguio-Cebu service flight will serve as a direct connectivity between Northern Luzon and the Visayas to spur economic activity and easy access for businessmen, tourists, and residents.
For the Baguio-Cebu trip, 70 passengers were sent-off with a cultural performance rendered by the Loakan Dance Community at 11:10 a.m. They were expected to arrive at Mactan Cebu Airport by 1 p.m.
PAL will use Q-400 bombardier aircraft with 85 seating capacity and four scheduled flights per week for the Baguio-Cebu: PR 2230 Cebu-Baguio every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday departing Mactan Cebu at 08:50 a.m. and arriving at Baguio Loakan Airport at 10:50 a.m.
PR 2231 Baguio-Cebu flight is set every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday; departing Baguio at 11:10 a.m. and arriving in Cebu at 1 p.m.
For inquiries contact CAAP Baguio: [email protected] or visit the official website of the Philippine Airlines at www.philippineairlines.com. – Jessa Mardy P. Samidan
