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TAGBILARAN
CITY—Korean
Airlines has committed to open direct flights to the
proposed Panglao International Airport once it is finished
in two years, Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado said.
The
governor also said government planners realigned the
proposed airport by 32 degrees so the runway would not end
up straight into the Alona beach strip in Panglao.
“The
President has committed to finish the airport before the
end of her term in 2010,” Aumentado told reporters during
a special 888 News Forum organized by the National
Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas).
Korean
Airlines is owned by Hanjin group whose construction arm
is working on a section of the Bohol circumferential road
project, the governor said.
The
governor admitted the project got lukewarm response from
resort owners in the Alona strip on
Panglao Island,
who feared the noise created by planes coming in and out
of the facility would disturb tourists.
The
P4.2-billion project is set tentatively set for
groundbreaking on May 8, with President Arroyo expected to
attend. The project will be funded by money from the
Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) coffers and
the Department of Transportation and Communications.
Aumentado
said the Miaa, which will shoulder P3 billion of the
project cost, will operate the airport, being the new
“superbody” of airports in the country.
Package 1
of the project would include the construction of a 2.5-km
runway which is enough to accommodate Boeing 737 and
Airbus A320 aircraft, which is the core fleet of most
regional airlines.
Package 2
involves the building of the airport terminal complex.
Aumentado
said the government has acquired 215 hectares of property
on Panglao Island, including provisions to expand the
airport runway to 3.8 km, enough to accommodate bigger
aircraft.
Department
of Tourism regional director Patria Aurora Roa said the
new airport would have reasonable traffic based on the
current pent-up demand at the existing Tagbilaran City
airport.
Roa said
Bohol is receiving a lot of requests for chartered flights
from Korea and China, but they had to be turned down
because the
Tagbilaran
Airport
could not accommodate bigger aircraft.
Besides
tourists, the
Panglao Airport
is also targeting balikbayan and OFWs traveling through
budget airlines.
Bohol
Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Noris Oculam
said budget airlines currently could not get into the
Mactan-Cebu International Airport, so the Panglao Airport
could accommodate these regional flights.
“Last year
there were only 17 million Filipino travelers who moved
around the country of 80 million people. I think we can
encourage more people to travel if we put airports in
strategic locations,” Oculam said. | 
