AirAsia celebrates inaugural flight from Manila to Iloilo City

October 04, 2017

MANILA, 2 October 2017 -- AirAsia is now flying to Iloilo International Airport, the primary gateway to Western Visayas and Panay region. The airline voted the World’s Best Low-Cost Carrier for nine years running flew its maiden flight from Manila to Iloilo yesterday with Dinagyang-themed festivities held at both Manila and Iloilo airports to welcome guests and passengers. Dinagyang festival is Iloilo’s most celebrated religious and cultural festival held every January. 

AirAsia flight Z2 309, with pilot in command AirAsia Philippines CEO Captain Dexter Comendador left Manila on time at 2:15PM with 98% load. AirAsia’s iconic red plane was greeted with a traditional water cannon salute upon landing at Iloilo airport.
AirAsia Philippines Chairperson Maan Hontiveros, Passenger Service Group Head of Terminal Operations Block Susan Sedano and AirAsia Philippines CEO Capt. Dexter Comendador with cabin crew

AirAsia Philippines CEO Dexter Comendador said, “AirAsia is now painting Iloilo skies red and we are here to provide only the best and world-class service that every traveler from Iloilo and the whole of Western Visayas and beyond truly deserves. Our brand of air travel is characterized by efficiency, innovative service culture, and unparalleled low fares.”

“Our commitment is to better connect secondary cities in the Philippines to ASEAN where the AirAsia Group has an extensive network across all ten countries and even beyond including Asia, Australia, India, and many more.”  

Government officials led by Senator Franklin Drilon who hails from Iloilo City, Provincial Governor Arthur Defensor, Vice Mayor Atty. Jose Espinosa III of Iloilo City, Mayor Ronilo Caspe of Cabatuan, Mayor Dennis Superficial of Sta. Barbara, Mayor Michael Gorriceta of Pavia, Regional Director of DOT VI Atty. Helen Catalbas, and Iloilo Airport Terminal Manager Mercine Reyes graced the welcome ceremonies at the Iloilo airport with AirAsia Philippines Chairperson Maan Hontiveros, AirAsia Philippines CEO Captain Dexter Comendador and Jeffrey Yao, Vice Chair of Philippine Business Bank, and representative of his father, Alfred Yao, one of the airline’s Filipino investors.  
AirAsia Philippines Chairperson Maan Hontiveros, Honorable Senator Franklin Drilon, AirAsia Philippines CEO Capt. Dexter Comendador, Honorable Governor Arthur Defensor, Iloilo Airport Terminal Manager Mercine Reyes, Jeffrey Yao Vice Chair of Philippine Business Bank representing his father Ambassador Alfred Yao member of our board and cabin crew.
“We are grateful for the support from the government and local chief executives including those in the hospitality business, our hotel and travel agency partners, in crafting policies that truly support and promote tourism. Let us continue to work together to provide a level-playing field, encourage fair competition that affords every traveler more and better choices, and enable the expansion of airline services to more communities,” Comendador added.

All AirAsia passengers flying to and from Iloilo also joined the celebration and received special souvenir items before boarding their flights.
To celebrate AirAsia’s newest flight, promo fares for Manila – Iloilo from as low as P990, all-in are now available for booking at airasia.com from 2 October until 15 October 2017 and valid for travel starting 9 October 2017 to 31 March 2018. 

AirAsia services Manila – Iloilo with three flights daily using the airline’s fleet of Airbus A320s that can accommodate up to 180 passengers. 

About AirAsia Philippines:
AirAsia Philippines is a wholly owned subsidiary of AirAsia Inc. which is a joint venture company among Filipino investors Antonio O. Cojuangco, former Ambassador Alfredo M. Yao, Michael L. Romero, Marianne B. Hontiveros, and Malaysia’s AirAsia Berhad.

AAP operates a fleet of 17 aircraft with domestic and international flights out of hubs in Manila, Cebu, and Kalibo.  The airline operates several flights to/from Manila, Davao, Cebu, Kalibo, Caticlan (Boracay), Tacloban, Tagbilaran (Bohol), Puerto Princesa (Palawan), Clark, and Iloilo in the Philippines with international flights to/from Shanghai, Taipei, Incheon (Seoul), Hong Kong, Macau, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Guangzhou, Vietnam and Singapore.

AAP is part of the AirAsia Group that has been awarded the World’s Best Low Cost Carrier for nine consecutive years running by Skytrax since 2009 to 2017.

 About the AirAsia Group
AirAsia, the leading and largest low-cost carrier in Asia, services the most extensive network with over 120 destinations. Within 15 years of operations, AirAsia has carried over 350 million guests and grown its fleet from just two aircraft to over 170. The airline is proud to be a truly Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) airline with established operations based in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, India and Japan, servicing a network stretching across all Asean countries and beyond. AirAsia was named the World’s Best Low Cost Airline in the annual World Airline Survey by Skytrax for nine consecutive years from 2009 – 2017. AirAsia is the first airline globally to collaborate with INTERPOL to implement the I-Checkit system to screen the passports of all its prospective passengers against information contained in the world police body’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database.


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