He stressed that PAL Express will allow passengers to fly in a speed of a jet with faster travel time. The Iloilo-Cebu flight will take 28 minutes.

Bautista said the regular service between Iloilo and Cebu will be increased to three flights daily in July.

He added they plan to establish the Iloilo-Caticlan flights soon. Caticlan Airport is the gateway to the famed island resort of Boracay.

“We are confident that more tourists will be coming to Iloilo. There will be also more goods to be transported from Iloilo, thus the flights will improve trade and investments here. The market is really growing in Iloilo,” Bautista told reporters.

PAL has beefed up its turbo-propeller fleet to tap into the growing tourist interest in the country.

Bautista said the 20-minute Iloilo-Caticlan route will reduce the six-hour land trip, thus more convenient when going to Boracay.

He also cited the newly-opened P8-billion Iloilo Airport which may also host more local flights and even international flights.

Earlier, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas proposed the new Iloilo Airport should draw chartered flights for tourism boosts as well as prospective investments.

“The city’s initial gain with the opening of the new airport is tourism. There are more foreign visitors in Iloilo which is a feasible market that we can start with chartered flights,” he suggested.

The mayor explained chartered flights could pave the way for the Iloilo Airport to host direct international flights.

“The arrivals will increase as what we have seen in Cebu which also started with chartered flights with Japan while they have more investors on beach resorts and other businesses. And Hong Kong, too, which has lots of travelers. Now, Cebu has more regular international flights,” Treñas affirmed.

“We should consider that if we have the tourism market, it brings along with it possible investments. Tourists are coming and going around places. But they’re not just tourists, some of them are also investors. This will be a big help to the economy,” he pointed out.

In Western Visayas, Kalibo Airport in Aklan started hosting international flight since last year, a good signal for the newly-built airports in Iloilo and Silay in Negros Occidental.