BIZ BUZZ: For Gokongwei airline, no Beijing flights for now

Local airlines suspended flights to China—once a top tourist destination—in the past year due to lack of travel demand.

But the outlook for the popular Asian travel spot seems to be getting brighter after Philippine Airlines announced the resumption of its Manila-Beijing flights.

Budget carrier Cebu Pacific, however, is yet to be convinced that this market will recover.

READ: Cebu Pacific saw Clark traffic surge in 2024

Xander Lao, president and chief commercial officer of the Gokongwei-led airline, said they were still studying the relaunching of this route, which it used to offer prior to the pandemic.

For one, Lao said they had already deployed their jets to other promising routes like Da Nang in Vietnam, which has been receiving healthy bookings.

“We are happy where we are now,” he said in a press briefing on Tuesday. —Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Mapalla ferry system sailing soon?

Metro Manila roads are already congested. So, having more options can be a welcome development for the daily commuters.

The Transportation department, as such, is working on securing the go signal by June for the Manila Bay-Pasig River-Laguna Lake (Mapalla) Ferry System.

Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan, in a radio interview, said they were eyeing to finish the feasibility study for the mass transport project by the “middle of 2025.”

He shared that the project’s first phase would span 30 kilometers across Marikina River and Pasig River. It will be built with at least 32 ferry stations.

The ferry system will deploy 40 electric ferries that can each carry 100 to 150 passengers in a single trip.

The project, which is seen to provide alternative routes linking the east and west corridors of Metro Manila, is being modeled after the Chao Phraya River Ferry System in Thailand and the New York Ferry System in New York City. —Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

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