BLOGGED PHILIPPINES

The OAG, an air travel intelligence company based in United Kingdom, in its annual report listed Cebu Pacific and AirAsia Philippines as some of the world's least punctual airline. Garnering only 57.6% and 58% OTP respectively, the two airlines based here in the Philippines was among the worst in the world. OTP (on time performance) refers to flights that arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled time. Image by  Jyi1693 at en.wikipedia [ CC BY-SA 3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons Punctuality Culture On the other hand, some of the world's most punctual airlines are in Japan, with Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways taking the top two spots with 85.27 amd 83.81% OTP. This result may not be surprising when you consider their culture. Japan is well known for being a process oriented and strict in punctuality country. For instance, late last year, Japan’s Tsukuba Express, a train that connects Tokyo and Tsukuba issued an apology for a train that departed the station 20 secon...

It's early 2013 when AirAsia decided to cut its Cebu operations and focus on their Manila operations. But just a few weeks ago, AirAsia announced that it's flying from Cebu once again. AirAsia Philippines, a subsidiary of the Malaysia -based low-cost airline AirAsia Berdad will fly from Mactan-Cebu International Airport to the following destinations starting April 22, 2017: Davao Palawan Boracay/Caticlan In addition to that, AirAsia Philippines will now fly from Davao City to the following destinations, also starting this April 22. Clark Cebu Palawan Boracay/Caticlan

[Updated] Heard of the latest news? Well, my favorite airline Zest Air, now owned by Air Asia Philippines was suspended by Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). Their violation? Safety, the primary concern of aviation authorities around the world. [Read: CAAP suspends Zest Air for safety violations ] The news just came late this afternoon. Incidentally, Zest Air's website is down. Zest Air Facebook page explains that the website is undergoing maintenance and advised the customers to go to airaisia.com for booking flights. English: Zest Air logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Comments from passengers with future flights booked at them swarmed their latest Facebook Page post.  In their twitter account, Zest Air offered an apology to all affected passengers. Here's the official statement. Zest Airways flights on August 17-19, 2013 will be cancelled due to a regulatory order. Affected guests holding bookings for flights on these dates will be offered a full refund. We are...

Many would have seen this coming. Last March, Zest Air and AirAsia Philippines announced a strategic partnership to further their strength in the increasingly competitive local aviation industry currently led by Cebu Pacific. Part of the deal is the acquisition of 40% ownership of Zest Air by AirAsia. And we are now starting to see the progress of that deal. Starting May 10, 2013 all Zest Air flights will now be booked at airasia.com. Instead of booking in two separate websites, Zest Air and AirAsia customer just have to go to one site. A unified system is of course a more efficient way to operate a business. We can therefore expect that starting May 10 all visitors of flyzest.com will be redirected to airasia.com/ph . Efficient Operation Means Better Customer Service? I'm just hoping that this latest development will dramatically improve Zest Air's customer service. I was referring to services that should be given to the customers when flights were cancelled, del...