Last Wednesday afternoon we joined the top officials of Philippine Airlines (PAL) for its formal re-launching of the up and coming Cebu to Los Angeles (LAX) flight that was temporarily suspended just after a few months three years ago. PAL Flight PR-152 will depart from Mactan’s Terminal 2 every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 9 p.m. arriving at the Tom Bradley International Airport at LAX at 7:30 p.m. on the same day. The return flight is PAL PR-153 that leaves LAX at 11 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays arriving in Mactan at 5 a.m.
Call it timely that PAL already announced last December the return of the Cebu-LAX flight before the COVID-19 spread because ushering the return of the Cebu-LAX flight means PAL is flying to a country that doesn’t have problem with COVID-19. Best of all, if you take PAL from the US and you don’t live in Cebu, you are only a short flight away in other local airports. After all, MCIA has become a major hub for PAL in the Visayas and Mindanao.
During the press conference a question was asked why the earlier flight was suspended. The answer was there are many things happening at this time that weren’t present back then. First was the kind of airplane that PAL used which was an Airbus A-340, a four-engine plane that needed refueling and didn’t have the right entertainment facilities. This time they using the Boeing 777-300ER that I have already tried flying to London last year and it is a superb aircraft with each seat having its own TV. That will certainly be a huge boon for one taking a 13-hour flight to the US.
Perhaps the most important thing in this new flight from Cebu to LAX is the use of the Terminal 2 at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA). With GMR-Megawide professionally running this terminal, it’s one flight that many passengers look forward to. During the press conference, I also asked Andrew Harrison to explain to the media about the need for a second runway so that there would be no disruption in case an aircraft stalls in the middle of the runway like what happened in NAIA when a Xiamen Air skipped the runway.
Harrison also explained to us what the future of MCIA would be like if they succeeded in reclaiming 300 hectares of land for the use of the second runway. If we Cebuanos accept the plan we are looking at the economy of Cebu in the next 50 years. I’m sure Cebuanos are satisfied with how GMR-Megawide is operating MCIA.
So what PAL will be doing is connecting Cebu and the rest of the Visayas and Mindanao to the Filipinos living in the US using a no-hassle airport facility where one lands in Cebu, which is near world-famous beaches and hotels, something you cannot do in NAIA. So come May 2 we are proud that once again Cebu would have a direct USA flights, something that other airlines cannot offer.
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I learned that Cebu City will now conduct a city-wide vaccination for polio after polio was discovered in the three rivers it shared with Mandaue City. However, it will have to restock on vaccines, as it does not have enough. Both Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella and Vice Mayor Michael Rama assured the public that the city will support the request for budget for additional vaccines as requested by City Health Officer Daisy Villa. Villa added that they are coordinating with the Department of Health (DOH) on the purchase, "We will not only do the injectable but we have to do both oral and injectable," she said.
At this point, I would also like to request the DOH for some kind of research on why the poliovirus was found in the three rivers. In my youth, I used to ride races inside the Butuanon River, which was clean in the mid-70s. This report that the poliovirus is now found there is horrifying to say the least.
My family had to live with a polio victim when my sister Adela suffered polio at the age of two. Back in those days, having your only sister in a wheelchair or using crutches was part of our lives. Mind you, at that time we didn’t have polio vaccines. Even the hospitals didn’t know how to handle this disease. So please be extra careful!