CALIFORNIA - Philippine Airlines (PAL) has unveiled details of its latest route as it celebrates 75 years of business.

As Philippine Airlines celebrates its 75th year it added a new route--a non-stop route between Mactan-Cebu and LAX airports.

Flight PR123 LAX to Cebu and PR122 Cebu to LAX will begin operating on March 15th.

"A lot of Filipinos are residing in the southern part of the Philippines so we wanted to give them the excellence service that Philippine Airlines is known for," said PAL Area Manager Jemma Saranillo.

The LAX-Cebu flights will operate 3 times a week and though the flight time may be slightly longer than the LAX to Manila flights, Saranillo said it may be more convenient since passengers do not need to get connecting flights from Manila to Cebu.

"It's pretty much the same if you land via Manila or if you take the direct flight to Cebu," she said.

While there is excitement for balikbayans with Visayan roots, tourism officials believe this new route will also appeal to all travelers.

"Now that people don't really have to go through Manila anymore they can go directly to Cebu. We have to expect a lot of diverse adventure travelers coming from LA directly to Cebu this time," said Richmond Jimenez, Tourism Director for Los Angeles.

Cebu Tourism Director Rowena Montecillo added, "The oldest fort is there in Cebu. You talk about history and culture, we have that of course. We celebrate Sinulog, the grandest festival in the Philippines every January. Aside from that, we have the newest offerings that Cebu has for the young ones and adventurous. We have canyoneering and we have so much trekking."

The new flight comes less than a year after the route between New York and Manila opened.

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