KOROR (Island Times/Pacnews) — More flights to Palau are coming this November, with United Airlines adding two more flights a week, according to Peter Polloi, director general of civil aviation of the Palau National Aviation Administration
United’s schedule for November adds one more Guam-Palau flight and a second Manila flight, Polloi said.
“This brings [United’s] weekly flights very close to pre-Covid numbers. They are only one flight short from what they had before the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Charles Obichang, the minister of public infrastructure and industries.
For his part, Minister of Human Resources, Culture, Tourism and Development Ngirai Tmetuchl said Taiwan’s China Airlines will schedule two flights a week to Palau starting in mid-November.
“Travelers can book online now,” he added. “Round trip ticket is around $800.”
China Airlines currently flies to Palau on a charter basis. With the relaxation of travel restrictions in Taiwan, which became effective Oct. 13, an increase in travel between the two countries is expected.
Tmetuchl said the Taiwan Bureau of Tourism will work with Palau in creating “cross-tourism packages” between the two nations.
Obichang, for his part, said there are also ongoing talks with South Korea’s Jeju Airlines and they are “very promising.”
The work to get the airline to fly here is “progressing,” he added. Jeju Airlines is a low-cost carrier that also has international routes.
The recovery of Palau’s tourism industry depends on the resumption of airline routes to the island nation.
According to the 2022 Asian Development Bank report, a “lack of readily available airline routes or schedules to Palau and the high cost of fuel and travel resulting from both the global economic recovery and Ukraine war, indicate an elusive outlook for tourism recover.”
