The Cagayan North International Airport (CNIA) has now begun its commercial services with Royal Airlines, plying both international and domestic flights, following its inaugural direct commercial flight over the weekend at the Lal-lo airport in Cagayan.

The inaugural direct flight of the Royal Air (RJ 100) took off Sunday afternoon from the Macau International Airport of the former Portuguese colony turned into a gaming haven enroute to Lal-lo Airport loaded with 99 passengers. Regular flights will start on Wednesday and Sunday this week.

Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) Special Assistant for Investments and Promotions Raymundo Roquero said  Royal Air  will initially operate with both international flights from Lal-lo to Macau and vice versa, and domestic flights from Lal-lo to Clark and vice versa twice a week.

During the inaugural flight, CEZA officials led by Roquero, and officials of the Municipality of Lal-lo, led by mayor Oliver Pascual, welcomed the Royal Air arrival with the traditional ceremonial water canon salute on the aircraft, while guests and visitors were greeted with flowers leis.

The inaugural pageantry was also attended by students of Lagoc National High School who performed a street dance to the sounds of drums to entertain the visibly pleased visitors, many of them anticipating a tour of the different tourist sports and white sand beaches of Cagayan.

To boost its initial flights, Royal Airlines is offering a relatively cheap air fare rates for its round-trip domestic flights for the Clark and Lallo route, set every Wednesday and Sunday.

Roquero said the effort to bring commercial direct flights to international destinations will allow easier and safer travel for foreign tourists who may be interested for tourism and leisure, business and investments in Northern Luzon, particularly at the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport in Santa Ana.

Secretary Raul L. Lambino, CEZA administrator and chief executive officer announced in August last year that CNIA was ready for commercial flights, both domestic and international, after the granting of accreditation by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Lambino cited that having a fully-operational airport at the Lal-lo town will allow a major Asian entrepreneurs and even global investors trouble-free, convenient access and faster travel time to the Freeport headquartered in Santa Ana, Cagayan.

While the airport had been operating chartered flights from Macau, considered Asia’s casino gambling capital, Lambino said its development plan included a high-tech facility that “will meet the growing demands of our different clients in the near future.”

Sec. Lambino also announced in August 2018, that there were various groups who have shown interest in redeveloping the 300-hectare CNIA property in a state-of-the-art logistics, aviation hub and one-stop shop with independent revenue- generating assets designed to meet the demands of the aviation industry.