Day: March 26, 2023

Eastar Jet Co., a South Korean budget carrier, said Sunday it resumed flights starting with a domestic route, three years after it suspended operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and a court-led restructuring.

It resumed 20 flights between Gimpo, west of Seoul, and the southernmost island of Jeju, including the first Jeju-bound ZE205 plane that departed at 6:50 a.m., the air carrier said.

Eastar Jet said it plans to hold promotional events for passengers boarding the flights for the day.

Eastar Jet will operate 10 Gimpo-Jeju flights from Sunday through Tuesday before increasing the flights to 12 a day, or 168 per week.

Eastar Jet, a China-focused carrier, had operated 23 planes covering 38 domestic and international routes before it suspended most of its flights over the pandemic in March 2020.

It obtained an air operator certificate (AOC) from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in February to restart the services.

It plans to increase the number of its chartered planes to 10 from the current three by the end of this year.

In 2021, Eastar Jet applied for court receivership after failing to find a strategic investor. Jeju Air Co., a leading South Korean low-cost carrier, dropped its plan to acquire the troubled airline.

In November 2021, local property developer Sung Jung Co. acquired the entire stake in Eastar, but it handed over its stake to a private equity fund in January this year.

Eastar Jet aims to achieve 146 billion won (US$112 million) in sales this year, its CEO Cho Joong-seok said earlier. The company reported 551 billion won in sales in 2019 before the pandemic broke out.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

North Korean propaganda outlets continued their criticism of an ongoing South Korea-U.S. amphibious landing exercise Sunday, blaming the allies for heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Seoul and Washington kicked off their first large-scale Ssangyong (double dragon) exercise in five years last Monday to sharpen deterrence against growing North Korean threats. It runs through April 3.

Uriminjokkiri, a propaganda website, rejected the allies’ argument that their combined drills were defensive in nature.

“That the amphibious landing has an offensive nature rather than being defensive is a fact that anybody knows,” the website said.

Another propaganda outlet, Meari, claimed that the responsibility for bringing the situation on the peninsula to a “perilous” point that could trigger war lies in the “hostile” forces, including the United States.

“The fact that the Ssangyong exercise is taking place on an expanded division level in this odd-numbered year clearly shows to which point the imprudence and ill-advised bravery of the war mongers has reached,” it said.

The North has decried allied exercises as preparations for a war of invasion, raising concerns that it could use those drills as a pretext to engage in provocative acts.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) provided PHP271.3 million worth of aid to nearly 40,000 Filipinos through its Medical Assistance Program (MAP) in the first two months of the year. The PCSO directly provided PHP271.3 million to 39,725 indigents with health-related problems seeking financial help through its flagship MAP from Jan. 9 to March 3, PCSO chairperson Junie Cua said in a news release over the weekend. ‘Inaasahan natin na mas marami pa tayong matutulungan sa mga susunod na pahahon (We hope to help more people in the future),’ Cua said. ‘Sang-ayon na rin po sa direktiba ng ating Pangulong Ferdinand. R. Marcos Jr., patuloy po kaming nagsisikap upang mapaigting ang aming paglilingkod para mapabuti ang kalagayan ng ating mga kababayan (Based on the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., we are constantly working to intensify our services to improve the condition of our countrymen),’ he added. The PCSO’s MAP is being realized in partnership with government and private hospitals, health facilities, medicine retailers, and other partners. Services covered by the program are hospital confinement, erythropoietin (dialysis injection), chemotherapy drugs, specialty medicines, hemodialysis, laboratory (blood chemistry), diagnostic, and imaging procedures, and implant/medical devices. Through its MAP, the PCSO has provided more than PHP2 billion worth of direct medical assistance to more than 255,000 beneficiaries in 2022. ‘Mandato po ng PCSO ang tumulong sa ating mga kababayan sa pamamagitan ng medical assistance, iba’t ibang institutional partnerships, pamimigay ng mga ambulansya at medical equipment at iba pang mga programa para mas marami pang Pilipino ang makadama ng kalinga ng ating pamahalaan (The mandate of the PCSO is to help our countrymen through medical assistance, various institutional partnerships, distribution of ambulances and medical equipment and other programs so that more Filipinos can feel protected by our government),’ Cua said.

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Universal Reality Combat Challenge (URCC) is bringing in a new addition in its upcoming fight card. The mixed martial arts organization recently announced that two “slap rap” matches will take place at URCC 84: Rage at Xylo at The Palace in Taguig on April 25. “Slap rap” is a fusion of verbal and physical altercations as the rappers will first engage in a typical rap battle but in the next round, they will exchange slaps. ‘We’ll be hosting the first ever slap rap battle. It’s first of its kind. We have a lot of innovative things we’d like to introduce here in URCC,’ URCC president Alvin Aguilar said in a statement over the weekend. Ronmar “South Piezze” Tubig battles “Sir Deo” Destreza in one slap rap match, while the other showdown pits John Kenneth “Cloza Mafia” Reyes and Daniel “Taz” Wiggins. Meanwhile, a grudge match between Arvin Chan (8-9) and Mariano Jones (1-0) is among the fights to watch out for at URCC 84. ‘We want to see how the saga of Arvin Chan and Mariano Jones come to end,’ Aguilar said. The main event pits Eros Baluyut (1-0) and EF Sevilla (5-3), both known jiujitsu practitioners. ‘We have two of the best black belters in the Philippines going at each other and I really can’t wait for April 25,’ Aguilar said. On the other hand, former ONE Championship fighter Jomary Torres (4-5) makes her URCC debut against unbeaten Mariane Mariano (2-0). In the preliminary bouts, Rex De Lara (10-8) battles debuting John Carranza (1-0) in the featherweight class; Rhino Casipe (0-0) meets Kervin Lampacan (0-0) in the flyweight category; and Marvin Dela Cruz (0-1) clashes against Denzel Dimaguila (1-2) in another flyweight bout. In the amateur bouts, Nigerian Emmanuel Epkeusi (4-3) squares off with Indian Mohammed Aslam (10-0) at welterweight and Jan Ilarde (2-0) collides against AJ Castellano (2-0) in the heavyweight category.

Source: Philippines News Agency