Airphil Express expects passenger growth to double this year

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s fastest-growing airline, Airphil Express (APX), is “sky-bound” this year as it expects passenger traffic to double to eight million.

“It’s been a banner year for APX. In terms of passenger growth, we had four million in 2011, up from 1.8 million in 2010 or a huge 122 percent growth rate. This further cements our status as the number one budget airline in terms of growth,” said Alfredo Herrera, SVP for marketing and sales of Airphil Express.

As a low cost-carrier, APX has been a price leader in the market as its regular “Express Sale” promos have caught Filipino passengers by storm. “But although we offer lots of promos, we also offer other intangibles like giving customers what they want. We believe they choose APX because of our excellent customer service, which is now made much more efficient with our 24/7 customer support,” Herrera said.

APX was the first airline to offer the 24/7 customer support service which took advantage of the social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, to get the pulse of their customers and be quicker in responding to their needs. “When we first started our Facebook account, we only had a fan base of about 6,000; today, by end of the year, we already have 175,000,” added Herrera.

APX’s “Adventours campaign” of promoting a local tourist site not just as a destination but as an experience was deemed spot on with the recently launched slogan of the Department of Tourism – the “It’s more fun in the Philippines” campaign.

Airphil Express also sought ways to improve on its services while ensuring a higher level of customer satisfaction. “With our APX Rewards Program, flyers need not pile up on points or mileage; they just need to collect their rewards every time they fly. We have also invested in additional aircraft and added new routes. Our fleet now has a bigger capacity,” said Herrera.

Early this year, the country’s fastest growing budget carrier added three new Airbus 320s to its current fleet.

“The additional units will not only back our growing operations in the country,” said Herrera.

The acquisition of three new Airbus 320s has brought the total number of A320s to 11. With three Q300s and five Q400s also in operation, Airphil Express’s current fleet has now reached 19, with the company aiming to increase its fleet size further to be able to beef up its operations and ensure convenient flights daily to more local destinations throughout the country.

Additional flights and routes will also be inaugurated this year to serve the Dumaguete, General Santos, Iloilo, Dipolog, Puerto Princesa and Butuan markets by way of Cebu (and v.v.) while additional daily services will also be included in the airline’s flights to Kalibo, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban and Cebu, all coming from Manila. Its Cebu-Davao, Cebu-Cagayan De Oro and Zamboanga-Tawi-Tawi as well as its Cebu-Zamboanga routes will also see additional daily and weekly services, respectively.