Flying from Manila to El Nido, Palawan with Airswift

An AirSwift ATR42 at El Nido Airport, Philippines. Photo / Fabio Achilli

Ellie Hutchinson flies Airswift from Manila to El Nido, Palawan.

The Plane: Airswift is one of the fastest growing airlines, adding one new aircraft a year to its current fleet of three brand new ATR-42 600s. It is also the only airline operating to El Nido, Palawan, the gateway to the Bacuit archipelago. Airswift connected us to our second island paradise, Boracay, the nearest airport being Caticlan.

Class: Only one and we are all treated equally.

Price: We paid $374 one way for two adults.

Flight time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Seat: 4A by the window.

How full: All 48 seats taken at this busy time of year.

Fellow passengers: Mainly tourists it seems.

Entertainment: The InFlight Traveller magazine kept me occupied with awe-inspiring stories on the Philippines.

Food and drink: We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by staff after security and handed a goodie bag with a much-needed packed lunch. This felt like royal treatment after our 10-hour flight from Auckland.

Service: Fantastic. From online correspondence to going above and beyond at check in and the first class meet and greet service. They even have a red carpet when you board the plane and handed out umbrellas for shelter from the drizzle.

Toilets: Only one, at the back of the plane, spotless.

Luggage: Only 10kg check in bag is allowed per passenger, so we both pre-paid for extra luggage online, which worked out to be about $5.50 (PHP 200) for an extra 10kg — and they handled our oversized kite-surfing equipment very carefully.

Airport experience: After taking the free shuttle service from Manila International Airport's Terminal 2 we arrived to the small Domestic Terminal 4 way earlier than expected. Luckily the staff were accommodating and put us on the next available flight (5 x a day) so that saved us a long six-hour wait at the busy airport with only the floor to sit on and Mister Donut for breakfast!

Would I fly again: Absolutely, the cabin was spacious, seats comfortable and the overallexperience felt quite luxurious.