PAL Express in General Santos City - Philippines

Traveling to the farthest city in the south of the Philippines was very much convenient through the regional airline brand Philippine Airlines or PAL Express. PAL offered daily flights to General Santos (Gensan) City not only from Mactan International Airport in Cebu, but also from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. PAL Express is now known as Airphil Express after the PAL management transferred the low-cost regional airline operations and services to Air Philippines on March 28, 2010. A PAL Express flight from Cebu to Gensan covered 302 miles which lasted for about an hour and 10 minutes. The same distance is also covered by airline competitor Cebu Air. PAL Express also faced other transport competition via land and sea routes.

The easiest way to get to General Santos city would always be through air transportation. PAL Express became the most preferred airliner among traveling businessmen because the booking services were available through the PAL website. It was the most simple and very much hassle-free way for anyone with a credit card. Traveling by air definitely saves time.

The easiest option, however, was not the cheapest one. In terms of travel ticket cost, the closest competitor of PAL Express were the different inter-island sea vessels. A trip ticket by boat only costs half the price of an airline ticket. Gensan's Makar Wharf remains as one of the busiest docking station in the Philippines. The 740 meter length wharf receives travelers on board four of the largest ferry companies plying the water routes to and from Iloilo City, Cebu City, Manila City, and even Indonesia. Negros Navigation, Sulpicio Lines, and Super Ferry continues with their various domestic operations, while the Indonesian Shipping Lines still keeps the gateway open to and from Indonesia.

One interesting fact for travelers to know is that the smallest aircraft flying between Cebu and General Santos has a maximum seating capacity of 72 units. The largest aircraft, on the other hand, can seat as much as 179 travelers. Another interesting piece of information is the single runway of the General Santos International Airport measures 3,227 meters or 10,587 feet in length. The airport's runway ranks as the third-longest runway in the Philippines, but its total land area of 5,994,577 square meters makes it the largest airport in the country.

A one-way flight ticket for a single adult passenger from Cebu to Gensan ranges from 1,500 pesos to 2,500 pesos. The ticket price will highly depend on the departure date. If a ticket is paid for and reserved within the week of the departure date, the cost will be higher by as little as five percent. The same price covers weekend scheduled flights. However, flight tickets made a week in advance and have departure dates that fall between Monday and Friday would often carry the regular or discounted prices.