Carriers pull out of Caticlan

"STARTING Thursday (July 9, 2009), major carriers are expected to discontinue flights to Caticlan, the gateway to the resort island of Boracay, in anticipation of a government order aimed at implementing a long-ignored rule on a one-takeoff and one-landing procedure.

Sources who attended a hearing between airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) on Wednesday said the new order will virtually leave only one carrier, Southeast Asian Airlines, plying the route." (Click here for the rest of the story. Apologies for the alarmist headline in the paper. Thanks!)

(Only Seair will be left flying to Caticlan, giving it a virtual monopoly over schedules and airfares. Let's pray it doesn't take advantage of the situation and unnecessarily jack up its airfares.)