Yes, you can now fly to Tawi-Tawi from Cebu

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews /26 Nov) –  Starting December 1, Philippine Airlines (PAL) will open its twice weekly flights between Cebu and Cotabato cities,  connecting the Queen City of the South with the seat of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 75 minutes on Mondays and Thursdays.

In an advisory, PAL said the new air route will also connect Cebu and Tawi-Tawi, allowing travelers in these areas a “seamless one-stop journey from Cebu to Tawi-Tawi as well as from Tawi-Tawi to Cebu” via Cotabato. 

^{PAL Express Officer-in-Charge Rabbi Vincent Ang and his crew, as well as some officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, upon arrival in Bongao, Tawi-tawi Thursday morning (9 June 2022) after the inaugural Cotabato-Bongao flight touched down at the Sanga-sanga Airport. MindaNews photo by BONG S. SARMIENTO}

The Cebu-Cotabato flight (PR2223) departs Cebu at 5:20 a.m. and arrives in Cotabato City at 6:35 a.m. If the passenger is bound for Tawi-Tawi, the plane leaves Cotabato City at 6:55 a.m. and arrives at the Sanga-Sanga Airport in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi at 8:30 a.m. 

The flight from Cebu to Tawi-tawi takes a total of three hours and 10 minutes, inclusive of a brief stopover in Cotabato City. 

From Tawi-Tawi, the flight to Cotabato and Cebu is at 9 a.m., arriving in Cotabato City by 10:35 a.m. The plane departs for Cebu at 11 a.m. and arrives there by 12:15 noon. 

The Cotabato-Tawi-Tawi-Cotabato air route had its inaugural flight on June 9 this year. 

^{The PAL Express PR 2487 flight upon arriving at the Sanga-sanga Airport in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi on Thursday (9 June 2022). MindaNews photo by FERDINANDH CABRERA}

PAL’s advisory says passengers can now travel more easily between Cotabato City and Boracay, Coron, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Clark, Iloilo, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban, Siargao and Baguio (from Dec. 16) by connecting “through PAL’s Cebu hub, rather than a longer connection via Manila.”

The other ways of flying to Tawi-tawi from Mindanao and the Visayas are via Manila and via Zamboanga City. (MindaNews)