A quick check of the popular airplane fare search engines provides a rather surprising statistic: the total number of direct flights from Clark International Airport to Narita, Japan (and vice-versa, of course): Zero. As Clark has the potential to service 23 million people in its catchment area, the current situation of having no direct flights to and from Japan seems like a wasted opportunity--even more so when you consider that tourism between our two countries has been on an upward swing in the last couple of years.
Shibuya Crossing, said to be the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world, is on many travelers' bucket lists.
Very soon, however, there’s going to be an exciting change as Cebu Pacific will commence operation of its direct service between Clark and Narita on August 9, 2019. Flights on this route will run four times weekly (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday), with departure time in Clark at 7:00a.m. With a flight time of about four hours plus the one-hour time difference, travelers reach Tokyo by early afternoon, leaving a lot of time to take in the sights of the city voted by Conde Nast Traveler readers as the world’s “Best Big City” in 2018. (Two other Japanese cities made the list: Kyoto came in at second, while Osaka claimed the 12th spot.)
On the opposite side of the coin, Japan-based travelers can bypass the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport if their final destination in the country is somewhere in Northern or Central Luzon—the stunning Banaue Rice Terraces, the beautiful beaches of La Union and Ilocos Norte, the charming cities of Baguio and Vigan, the latter a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being just a few of the tourist attractions much nearer to Clark than Manila.
Following Korea, China, and the U.S., Japan is one of the Philippines’ top sources of inbound tourists, with 631,801 Japanese visiting the country last year. In the same period, 504,000 Filipinos visited Japan—a massive leap from the figure just six years ago, when it logged just 108,000 visitors.
Seats on the new Clark-Narita route of Cebu Pacific will be sold for as low as PHP2,099 base fare from April 2 to 9, 2019, with rates for the return flight starting at JPY7,000 – roughly PHP3,300. The travel period for the promo is from August 9 to October 26, 2019.
For bookings and inquiries, guests can visit www.cebupacificair.com. The latest seat sales can be found on CEB’s official Twitter (@CebuPacificAir) and Facebook pages.
