Seair mounts int’l flights from Cebu, Kalibo

MANILA, Philippines - Low-cost carrier Southeast Asian Airlines (Seair), a unit of Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd. of Singapore, is set to mount flights to Singapore and Hong Kong from Cebu and Kalibo in Aklan.

Seair has filed a petition with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to impose a fuel surcharge of P500 for flights from Kalibo to Singapore and Hong Kong as well as flights between Cebu and Singapore.

Last February, the budget airline started imposing a fuel surcharge of P500 for all its international passengers and P300 for all its domestic passengers flying within the Philippines except Davao.

The budget airline also started imposing a P400 fuel surcharge for Manila to Davao passengers.

The CAB allows airlines to impose fuel surcharge on international and domestic passengers as a temporary relief to help them recover losses arising from the increase in jet fuel prices in the world market.

Latest results of the jet fuel price monitor of the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) showed that average price of jet fuel rose 4.7 percent to $118.1 per barrel from a month ago level.

Seair flies from Manila to Cebu, Davao, Tacloban, Iloilo, Puerto Princesa, Bacolod, and Boracay via the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Its international destinations include Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, and Kota Kinabalu via the Clark International Airport in Pampanga.

In August last year, Tiger Airways through wholly-owned subsidiary Roar Aviation II Pte Ltd. acquired a 40-percent stake in Seair for a total consideration of $2.5 million.

The investment in Seair is Tiger’s second joint venture after it acquired a 33 percent stake in Mandala Airlines in Indonesia last January.

Tiger said the acquisitions are part of its strategy for expansion in the region and that Seair would be adopting the Tiger business model that includes offering value fares for domestic and international destinations within a five-hour flying radius of Manila and Clark, its current hubs.

Seair operates two Airbus A319s and three A320s and more aircraft are expected to arrive to beef up its fleet. It has been in operation in the Philippines for 17 years and now flies to four regional and nine domestic destinations.