Finally...

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/i...d=2011/march/1

by Eric Apolonio

Japan’s second biggest carrier All Nippon Airways mounted its inaugural flight through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminal-3 on Monday, marking the start of its regular Manila-Narita flight, seven times a week.

All Nippon utilized a 214-seater Boeing B767, taking off with 108 passengers.

Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim, airport general manager Jose Angel Honrado, Japanese Embassy officials headed by Consul General Motohiko Kato and All Nippon’s Executive Vice President for Marketing & Sales Shiya Katanozaka and Manila Office General Manager Hideaki Izumin held a ceremony to mark the inaugural flight.

“This is a historic occasion in line with President Aquino’s promise to lure more tourists to come to the Philippines,” Honrado said. “ANA is the first to heed the call.”

All Nippon Airways officials said that the Tokyo Narita-Manila service will also serve demand for onward travel to North America by convenient transfer at Narita. Its new service competes with that of Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, which also serve the Manila-Narita route.

All Nippon’s new route expands its Southeast Asian network which covers Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore.

Together with the Narita-Jakarta service, which was launched on January 7, the inauguration of the Narita-Manila service will expand All Nippon’s flights to nine daily.

Apart from All Nippon, other international airlines are being encouraged to hold flights through terminal 3 and make way for repair-rehabilitation work on terminal 1.

The travel boom is expected to raise the current tourism arrivals from 3.5 million a year to six million, five years down the road, said Lim.

“I don’t want to overestimate because it took us 40 years to reach the three million (tourist arrivals),” Lim said. Last year, tourism arrivals rose by 17 percent, with Japan accounting for third biggest source of visitors, after the US and Korea.

“One of ten arriving tourists in the Philippines is Japanese,” Lim said.

Honrado revealed that Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines are also keen on relocating to NAIA terminal 3.

Both airlines are just waiting for the MIAA to give the go-signal before they start building their own passenger lounges and check-in counters as well as installing their computer system and other facilities.

Honrado told Manila Standard that a team would conduct viability tests on the NAIA terminal 3’s other facilities such as baggage handling, passenger landing brdiges, ramp control, camera syste, flight info and other systems.

“There are fears that after more than a decade since the equipment and machineries were tested, moisture and rust might have rendered these facilities defective,” Honrado said.