By Ashley Erika O. Jose, Reporter
RYNA C. BRITO-GARCIA, chief executive officer of Sunlight Air, said she founded the boutique airline with the goal of capturing the growing travel demand in underserved areas.
“We were incorporated back in 2019, but the idea to launch an airline began as early as 2017, primarily because we noticed a lack of awareness about underserved destinations,” Ms. Garcia said in an interview with BusinessWorld.
At 29 years old, Ms. Garcia is relatively new to the aviation industry but has already demonstrated her leadership by keeping the company afloat during the height of the pandemic.
“I think my lack of experience in the airline industry actually became a strength. It helped me think of innovative strategies to navigate the challenges of the pandemic,” she said.
Before offering commercial flights in 2022, Sunlight Air began operations with a travel bubble package, now offered as Sunlight Air Vacations.
Travel bubbles are arrangements for transporting travelers between two destinations. Sunlight Air Vacations include round-trip flights and hotel or resort accommodations through its sister company, Sunlight Ecotourism Island Resort.
“I had no experience in the aviation industry before starting Sunlight Air. My background was in technology and hospitality. I worked in Australia for a legal tech firm, then returned to the Philippines to manage our resort and hotels. I only began learning about the airline industry afterward,” she said.
The company launched travel bubbles during the pandemic to cater to customers seeking leisure travel while minimizing touchpoints due to government restrictions.
As a new company facing challenging conditions, Ms. Garcia had to develop innovative approaches to keep the company on track amid headwinds.
“We explored new revenue channels, such as cargo services to various provinces in the Philippines. The growth of e-commerce presented an opportunity for Sunlight Air to enter the market despite pandemic restrictions,” she said.
Currently, Sunlight Air flies to Siargao; San Vicente, Coron, and Busuanga in Palawan; and Catic-lan, Aklan; Iloilo; Cagayan de Oro; and Cebu.
“We launched many routes in 2024. Our focus is to ensure that these new routes grow effectively,” she said.
For this year, Sunlight Air has no immediate plans to add more routes or increase the frequency of its newly launched routes, Ms. Garcia said, noting the importance of stabilizing operations first.
“We plan to maintain the current frequency of our new routes and ensure they stabilize before adding new ones,” she said.
Sunlight Air may start offering new routes by 2025 once it has ensured the stability of its current domestic flights, she added.
In the meantime, Sunlight Air will launch its mobile application to allow passengers to book and manage their flights.
“We will also introduce our frequent flyer program, enabling passengers to earn points by traveling with us,” Ms. Garcia said.
The company is also targeting international flights in the future, with ongoing discussions about the plan, though nothing is finalized yet.
“I am hopeful that some of our discussions will come to fruition. There are no definitive agreements yet, so we’ll see what next year brings,” she said.
The boutique airline has announced plans to offer flights to China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan within the next two years.
In addition to catering to leisure travelers, Sunlight Air is also targeting group travelers and companies with its private flight offerings.
“We still offer chartered flights, primarily to corporate accounts or large groups,” she said.
Sunlight Air does not regularly offer private flights, which can accommodate up to 70 passengers at around PHP 200,000 per hour.
“Companies often charter entire planes for group or company outings because it’s more cost-effective than purchasing individual tickets. We also cater to groups of friends and families traveling together, such as for weddings or debuts,” she said.
Sunlight Air currently operates with a fleet of three ATR 72-500 planes, which the company plans to replace with ATR 72-600 models in the near future.
“We will replace some of our planes with Dash 600s. Currently, our planes are ATR 72-500s. We plan to upgrade them and consider adding new planes in the last two quarters of next year,” Ms. Garcia said.
Since 2020, Sunlight Air has been growing, and the company’s plans are to sustain this growth over the next five years by capitalizing on the increasing travel demand in the country, she noted.
Ms. Garcia is also optimistic that relocating the company’s hub to Clark International Airport will spur growth, given Clark’s increasing popularity due to the decongestion in Metro Manila.
