MANILA, 16 October 2023: Philippine Airlines (PAL) will pioneer a new direct flight between Cebu and Laoag in December as part of the flag carrier’s efforts to improve connectivity between Northern Luzon and the central and southern Philippines.
Starting 15 December 2023, PAL Express will operate twice weekly flights on Tuesday and Friday between Cebu and Laoag with convenient morning departures.
PAL Express will deploy a De Havilland Dash 8-400 aircraft on the Cebu – Laoag configured with 86 seats, including six Comfort Class seats for the two-hour, 30-minute flight compared with an overland road trip, which includes some ferry links and covers 1,300 km about 30 hours behind the wheel.
PR 2251 Cebu-Laoag (twice weekly, Tuesday and Friday) departs at 0735 CEB and arrives at 1005 in LAO.
PR 2252 Laoag-Cebu (Tuesday and Friday) departs LAO at 1025 and arrives at CEBU at 1235.
With no other airline competing with direct flights between the two cities, the cheapest roundtrip fare between the two cities starts at USD264, according to a Skyscanner search. The alternative is to book a flight from Cebu to Laoag via Manila, where there is a plane change. Flight time is three hours and 50 minutes on the one-stop route with a roundtrip fare of around USD213. Bookings are already open on the new direct route CEB – LAO.
“We welcome the holiday season with a historic air link between Cebu and Laoag City. This brand-new service will help us open up a new market for tourist and business travellers by connecting the Ilocos Region via nonstop flights to Cebu and beyond to other cities in the Visayas and Mindanao,” said PAL president and chief operating officer Stanley K Ng. “You can expect more convenient connections that boost tourism and help spur economic development in different areas of the Philippines as we progressively expand our domestic network. We expect to mount more flights in and out of our Mactan-Cebu hub in the coming months.”
Laoag is located in the west-central part of the Province of Ilocos Norte, bordering the South China Sea. The Laoag International Airport is the northernmost international airport in the Philippines and the only airport in Ilocos Norte.
The small coastal city is considered the jewel of the northern Philippines due to its stunning views and heritage sites. La Paz San Dunes is the most popular attraction in Laoag City, where visitors can enjoy an exhilarating 4×4 ride or a more leisurely sandboarding activity.
