Air Swift: The Philippines Premier Short Haul Airline? A Review
Domestic flights in the Philippines have quite a lot of competition if you’re travelling from Manila or Cebu, with competition from the likes of Air Asia, Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines with their subsidiary PAL Express.
There are many destinations across the archipelago which don’t feature this same competition. One such destination includes the popular tourist destination of El Nido on the western-most Philippine island of Palawan which is only served by Air Swift (stylised in their branding as AirSWIFT).
This shouldn’t come as a surprise as the airport was built and is owned by the airline itself, making it remarkably similar to the set-up of Bangkok Airways and the airport it owns in Koh Samui. The knock-on effect is high air fares to El Nido or take a flight on one of the other airlines to Puerto Princesa followed by several hours of driving.
I flew Air Swift on two occasions:
Busuanga Coron ‘Francisco B. Reyes Airport’ (USU) to El Nido (ENI)
El Nido Airport (ENI) to ‘Boracay Godofredo P. Ramos Airport’ (MPH)
Here’s a short summation of what you can expect with Air Swift.
Air Swift exclusively use ATR turboprop aircraft for all their routes with two variants used depending on the route - the ATR-42 or slightly larger ATR-72. Regardless of the aircraft type, you should expect the in-flight seat and experience to be the same on both.
Air Swift serve nine airports across the Philippine Islands. The airline connects Manila with El Nido, Coron, Sicogan and Romblon*, while it connects El Nido with Clark, Manila, Boracay, Cebu and Panglao. The airline only has competition on one route - Manila to Coron.
Source: Air Swift
Coron’s Airport is publicly owned and was built with funding from the Republic of Korea. It’s quite small and more akin to a bus station, but you still have to complete a security scan before entering airside. Once through, there is a decent coffee shop you can sit at. Ther are some lovely views across the apron and runway.
El Nido airport is far smaller with no shop or vending machine available once through security. This feels like a slightly more premium bus station.
Boarding of the Air Swift ATRs take place via the rear of the aircraft, while luggage is stored between the main passenger cabin and the flight deck. While you’re unlikely to be connecting to another flight from Air Swift, if you want to get off quicker, sit further to the rear of the aircraft.
The livery isn’t particularly interesting and they could probably do with replacing that Philippine flag - especially considering how strict the Philippine flag laws are…
Onboard there is a 2-2 layout for seats which is very standard for this type of aircraft. Note that at the front of the aircraft, there is the unique feature whereby you have two seats facing the next row - which may be slightly awkward if you don’t know the other passengers.
These are pretty compact aircraft wherever they operate globally, meaning that headroom and overhead bin space is limited. If your hand luggage is too big, you will be asked to check it in.
Legroom is not great for most taller people, although most flights will be below 90 minutes making this a small inconvenience. (Apologies for the shot of my legs, I promise I was wearing shorts…)
A pull out tray can be found in front of you, which looked pretty clean when compared to other airlines. A literature pocket houses a safety card and sick bag.
Finally, the toilet is extremely small but is functional. Unlike some other airlines with the same aircraft type, there was a functional washbasin with soap - rather than just sanitiser and wipes.
And that was it. There was no inflight service to speak of and no drinks were offered, even the view out the plane wasn’t great thanks to a combination of scratched windows and poor weather. You can get some great views on aircraft like this thanks to the lower altitude they fly at compared to jetliners - which I experienced on my later flight with PAL Express.
There’s not really a verdict or conclusion I can make on these flights. Despite a heavily delayed departure from Coron Airport, the actual flight itself was completely acceptable - and let’s face it, they service unique routes with zero competition (bar one) so they can charge higher prices.
