Why the long way wins.
The routes and the fares on NowNa aren’t opinions — they come out of how Philippine air routes are actually priced, and how the archipelago actually connects. This page is the homework: the math, the worked example, and why it matters beyond the fare.
A few island airports have one carrier — and price like it.
Where a single airline owns a small island strip — El Nido’s Lio, Camiguin, Catanduanes — the fare is set by what a time-pressed traveler will pay, not by cost. And on popular routes the “cheap” direct flight spikes on the dates people actually travel: we have logged Manila→Siargao round-trips at ₱27,400 — booked as one ticket. NowNa routes around both — through a competitive hub and a short hop — for a web-verified ₱4,000–₱9,500.
Most of that demand is domestic — and in a year of high prices and a weak peso, saving ₱18,268on a trip isn’t nice. It’s decisive.
Every figure comes from a logged, dated fare check. The full table, route by route →
Manila → Siargao, both ways of doing it.
Skip the flight. Take the country.
Two other ways to run it — compare ▾▴
Loops,
not back-and-forth.
Most travelers plan a trip as a flight out and the same flight back. NowNa opens up multi-leg circuits that fly into one regional airport and out of another, with overland connections between.
- · Skips the most expensive return leg.
- · Adds two or three destinations at marginal cost.
- · Spreads tourism revenue across more towns.
- · Photographs better.
The Mindanao loop
Manila → Davao → Surigao → Siargao → Cebu → Manila. One trip, four cities, no backtracking.
The Palawan loop
Manila → Puerto Princesa → El Nido → Coron → Manila. Three Palawan destinations on one ticket.
The Visayan loop
Manila → Cebu → Bohol → Siquijor → Dumaguete → Manila. Four islands. One ferry network.
Filipino-built.
Editorial-led.
Designed to help connect
people and our islands.
Every route is covered with the depth a Manila publication would write — the specific food spots, the right ferry at the right hour, what each island is really known for. Not the thin copy an OTA contractor churns out.
And the cheaper route does something the direct flight can’t: your spend disperses — to drivers, ferry crews, karinderyas and weavers — instead of two airlines. Cheaper for you, decisive for the towns.
We started with the most mispriced routes. The goal is all 7,641 islands — the whole country, made navigable and affordable for the people who actually live here.