Air Asia Philippines on Friday announced it will start flying from Manila to General Santos and Zamboanga starting October 25 and 27, respectively. 

“These routes are very special as, ahead of our commercial flights this coming October, we have already successfully mounted a number of chartered repatriation flights to and from the two cities to assist in bringing home Filipinos back to their hometowns,” Ricky Isla, chief executive of Air Asia said.  

“Despite the current health situation, AirAsia continues to push for domestic connectivity to provide a much needed boost for economic activity in the country, especially in the South. We are committed to launching more destinations and gradually restoring our strong domestic network before the year ends,” he added. 

To celebrate the new destinations, AirAsia is offering all-in promotional fares from Manila to Zamboanga and General Santos from as low as P511 for BIG members until September 5. 

The travel period is  between October 25 and March 27, 2021. 

The budget airline earlier reported a net loss of  P2.31 billion in the second quarter of the year form P353 million net income in the same period last year. 

Air Asia Philippines recorded a total revenue of P129 million in the April to June period, down from P7.51 billion in the same period last year. 

The airline said passenger volume reached only 29,111, lower by 99 percent  from 2.22 million passengers it flew in the same period last year. 

The airline hibernated its fleet from March 20 to June 4 because of the COVID-19 outbreak.  Load factor fell by 36 percentage points to 55 percent from 91 percent.