KALIBO, Aklan – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said it is all set for the opening of Kalibo and Caticlan international airports for Taiwan flights this month.
In a statement, Commissioner Norman Tansingco said he already instructed the Port Operations Division (POD) to ensure that adequate personnel are deployed to the airports to address the increased number of passengers resulting from the new flights.
He noted that the inaugural flight from Caticlan to Taipei by Royal Air was scheduled on Tuesday.
“It will also mark the first time BI will launch its operations at the new Caticlan airport,” Tansingco added.
On the other hand, Tansingco added that Tiger Air will be launching its Kalibo-Taipei-Kalibo flights on Dec. 29.
Initially, the airline company plans to mount four flights to Taipei every week.
Meanwhile, POD acting chief Carlos Capulong revealed that passenger arrivals in the different airports are now averaging at between 25,000 to 27,000 a day in the past several days.
He said this figure is far from the daily average of 5,000 passenger arrivals when the country re-opened its borders to foreign tourists in March 2021.
At the same time, Tansingco is anticipating a continuing increase in international passenger volume in all of the international ports next year amid a further relaxation of travel restrictions. (PNA)