Davao council sets Oct. 8 for probe on ‘high’ airfare costs to and from the city

THE DAVAO City council will hold a public hearing on Oct. 8 to look into the cost of domestic flights to and from the city. “This raising of prices for Davao flights have been a recent phenomenon. As such, I would like this matter to be investigated,” Councilor Al Ryan S. Alejandre, who pushed for the inquiry, said in an interview with BusinessWorld. “We have already sent letters to the airlines and hope they could come,” he added. Mr. Alejandre, chair of the committee on tourism, said the “high airfare” rates are counterproductive to the city’s efforts in promoting tourism. He cited that Manila-Davao flights by Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific come out higher than Hong Kong-Manila flights. “A travel abroad costs lower than that of a Davao-Manila flight… This deeply concerns me, because it would seem that the effort that we had in the promotion of the city would be futile, if the airfare cost would be significantly high,” he said, adding that this also affects business travellers. — Carmencita A. Carillo