Private flights to Cebu

Cebu is the hub of the southern Philippines. Mactan-Cebu International carries more flights than any airport outside Manila, and almost every island in the Visayas and northern Mindanao is either a short hop from it or a long ferry. That makes it the natural base for a charter network: the aircraft priced on this site from Mactan reach Bohol, Siquijor, Camiguin, Bantayan, Ormoc, Bacolod, Iloilo, Dipolog, Siargao, Davao and Zamboanga, each on its own page with both directions priced.

The legs split into two kinds. Some go where no airline does: Panglao, 25 minutes away and two hours plus road transfers by fast ferry; Bantayan, 30 minutes against a half-day of bus and boat; Ormoc, Siquijor and Camiguin, all under an hour. Others fly routes the jets already serve, Bacolod, Iloilo, Davao and Zamboanga, where the private aircraft is about timing: the fiesta week when every seat is sold, the meeting that ends after the last departure, the group that wants its own clock.

Most legs are listed on a three-seat Cessna 172; Panglao is also listed on a five-seat Stationair. Every price is for the whole aircraft, live in pesos and dollars, and a booking is a request the operator confirms, usually within hours, with nothing charged until they do.

Why fly to Cebu

The case for flying out of Cebu is strongest on the short island legs the airlines skip. A family landing on an international flight in the morning can be on Alona Beach, Bantayan or Siquijor before lunch, instead of spending the afternoon between a taxi queue, a pier and a ferry terminal. Chain two or three of those islands together and the days saved add up quickly.

The case for the scheduled jet is just as clear on the long, well-served routes. Davao and Zamboanga are quicker by airline, and a solo traveller with flexible dates will pay far less for a seat than for a whole aircraft. It is worth checking the empty legs page either way: aircraft based at Mactan fly home empty from all eleven destinations, and those seats sell at a steep discount.