THE Philippine Airlines, the national flag carrier, has vowed to promote the Puerto Princesa Underground River, now included in the provisional list of winners in the online global search for the New Seven Wonders of Nature.

Jaime Bautista, chief operating officer and PAL president, said that this is apart from PAL’s promotional activities in the Philippines and abroad.

“In support of Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn’s  program to attract more tourists, we will fly our bigger planes to Puerto Princesa,” Bautista said, adding that PAL was teaming up with the city government to maximize the tourism potential of the PPUR.

He said PAL would deploy Airbus A330 to Palawan to accommodate the expected influx of tourists to the city after its underground river won global recognition.

The PAL flies twice daily to Puerto Princesa using an Airbus A320 where Hagedorn said the interest of tourists, both foreign and local, in the underground river had been greatly aroused by its new-found international fame.

Bautista said Palawan’s underground river was included in the top six destinations in PAL’s 2012 corporate calendar.

“This is how important PAL regards this wonderful destination. It is also timely that the recent renovation and expansion of the Puerto Princesa airport was needed as it could now accommodate bigger aircraft,” Baustista said.

Aside from the Puerto Princesa airport, other provincial airports that can accommodate bigger aircraft are those of Cebu, Davao and Iloilo.

The PPUR was named one of the new Seven Wonders of Nature, along with the Amazon rainforest, Vietnam’s Halong Bay, Argentina’s Iguazu Falls, South Korea’s Jeju Island, Indonesia’s Komodo, and South Africa’s Table Mountain.

Hagedorn credited PAL with helping develop and boost Palawan’s tourism industry. He said that back when Palawan was considered a missionary route, PAL was already flying to the island.