Daily Tribune‘We are seeing a lot of tourists coming in, especially Europeans taking Air France flights. We see more and more Filipinos travel to France and we carry those passengers directly to Paris.’
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Pamela Villangka, country manager of Air France
Raffy Ayeng
A significant increase in European tourists has been logged since the opening of Manila-to-Paris flights last December 2024, the only non-stop flights from the Philippines to Europe, an Air France official said.
“The market increased by 25 percent based on our data. We are seeing a lot of tourists coming in, especially Europeans taking Air France flights. We see more and more Filipinos travel to France and we carry those passengers directly to Paris,” Pamela Villangka, Air France country manager, said at the sidelines of the France-Philippines Business Forum in Makati City on Friday.
“Since the launch in December, Air France flights have been progressively increasing. So, we’ve had good take-ups, approximately 80-90 percent seat factor going to France,” she enthused, adding that “admittedly, there are still a lot of improvements in terms of the inbound sector that we need to fill, but generally, we’ve seen quite good performance since the launch.”
Villangka also said they observed high bookings for Paris this coming Lent, as Filipinos love to travel during this season.
“We see a lot of bookloads for April and throughout summer. April and May are generally good months for airlines, especially the Filipino market. As the only carrier from Manila to Europe, we have a very good market for it, of course not just for the French community but also for the Filipino community who would love the convenience of traveling to Europe with a non-stop flight,” she underlined.
To increase inbound flights to Manila, Villangka said they are tying up with inbound travel agents and operators to bring in more European and French tourists.
“It is not that the Philippines is not a priority for the French and European visitors, but maybe because there are other options in the Southeast Asia region where Europeans are inclined to go, such as Bali, Indonesia and Thailand. But the Department of Tourism, I believe, is working very hard to make the Philippines a main destination in Southeast Asia for European tourists,” she said.
But for now, Villangka said Air France has no concrete plans yet to increase inbound flights.
“Hopefully, there will be an opportunity for that, but as of now, there are no plans yet. We are trying to stabilize the frequency so that we have to ensure that it remains profitable. Any further increase will be subject to further assessments,” she said.
