Qatar Airways has re-launched its service to Cebu, Philippines after eight years.
“Qatar Airways continues to show its resilience, launching another new destination during this crisis with Cebu, Philippines joining Brisbane, Australia and Toronto, Canada as new destinations to join the airline’s global network in the past few months,” reads a statement from the airline.
The carrier last operated flights to Cebu in March 2012. It began offering three weekly flights to the city on July 24.
“We are delighted to be launching a new direct service to Cebu, offering our passengers another gateway into the Philippines. Being the airline that has never stopped flying since Covid-19 hit, it has been Qatar Airways’ mission to take people home safely during the pandemic, and we have helped more than two million people get home to their loved ones since February,” said Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar Al Baker.
The airline says by the end of July, its network will expand to over 450 weekly flights to more than 70 destinations with the addition of Cebu and its one weekly flight to Guangzhou starting July 26.
The relaunching of flights to Cebu will see the airline’s network in the Philippines expand to 13 weekly flights:
- Manila (nine weekly flights)
- Clark (one weekly flight)
- Cebu (three weekly flights)
“Cebu is the second largest city in the Philippines and it is an important economic and trading hub along with being a popular tourist destination famous for its white sand beaches, turquoise waterfalls and world-renowned diving spots. Cebu joins Bali, the Maldives, Tunis and Zanzibar as some of the popular year round holiday destinations, Qatar Airways has resumed services to in the past few weeks,” reads a statement from the carrier.
The airline has extended its booking by allowing passengers unlimited date changes. The carrier says passengers can change their destination as often as they need if it is within 5,000 miles of the original destination. The airline will not charge any fare differences for travel completed before December 31, 2020, after which fare rules will apply. All tickets booked for travel up to December 31, 202 will be valid for two years from the date of issuance.
