Flights to PH are among world’s most affordable

HERE’S one more reason to visit the Philippines: It’s relatively too cheap to fly here.

This was among the results of a survey conducted by kiwi.com, an online travel agency that uses algorithms to combine flight itineraries in the vast and fragmented commercial aviation sector to uncover big savings for its clients.

According to kiwi.com’s 2016 Aviation Price Index, the Philippines ranked 9th out of 75 countries that offered “the best value flights.” Topping the list of value flights was India while the most expensive was the United Arab Emirates.

The survey studied over one million international and domestic journeys. To come up with the ranking, it took into account fares per 100 kilometers of travel in terms of budget airline and legacy carrier trips to come up with an “average” figure.

The Philippines secured its place among the top 10 countries offering value flights with an average of $7.76 per 100 kilometers of travel.

The Philippines has three carriers. Legacy carrier Philippine Airlines and two budget carriers: Cebu Pacific Air and Air Asia Philippines. According to kiwi.com’s survey, its average low-cost airline fare for domestic routes was at $5.23 per 100 km and $8.26 for legacy carriers.

For international flights, it was at $3.93 for low cost airlines and $13.61 for legacy airlines, per 100 kilometers.

As noted, the survey revealed that India had the most “value” with an average a flight cost of $3.25 per 100 kilometers of travel while the United Arab Emirates, as the most expensive, calculated at a cost over 30 times higher, or $105.71 per 100 kilometers of travel.

“The Aviation Price Index is a fascinating guide to the costs of air travel around the globe,” Kiwi.com’s CEO Oliver Dlouhý said in a statement. Miguel R. Camus