Air Asia Philippines all set to dominate travel market

Air Asia Philippines, an affiliate of budget carrier Air Asia, is all set to dominate the Philippines' low cost travel market, with its inaugural flights to two of the country's popular tourist spots.With the onset of the peak summer travel season, Air Asia Philippines promises to offer the lowest fares compared with its local rivals budget carrier Cebu Pacific and flag-carrier Philippine Airlines.

Air Asia Philippines launched its maiden flights on Wednesday morning from its hub in Clark, Pampanga, located an hour and a half away from the capital Manila.Two domestic flights to two popular tourism destinations, Boracay and Davao, flew from Clark International Airport, taking advantage of the start of the peak summer travel.

Air Asia Philippines CEO Marianne Hontiveros, said: "We are really here to revolutionize domestic and international air travel and we like to shake up the travel industry. We started our revolution when we offered zero fare promos last month."

Air Asia Group CEO Tony Fernandes believes their joint venture in the Philippines will contribute tremendously in enhancing the airlines' regional expansion.With only a small fraction of the Philippines' 90 million people currently making use of air travel, he believes there's a huge potential in the country.

Mr Fernandes said: "I think air connectivity has been an issue and that's why the world hasn't come here as much as it should. Our mantra is not to take other people's market share but to grow and expand it. We think the Philippines is ready to explode in terms of showing itself to the world. There is so much to see here."

Mr Fernandes is also confident of the Philippine government's plans of liberalizing the country's aviation industry that will help increase tourist arrivals in the country.Air Asia Philippines will fly to another popular local tourist destination in April, and plans to offer flights from the Philippines to Macau, HongKong, Xiamen, Bangkok, Incheon, and Singapore.