Cebu Pacific beefs up fleet to 49

MANILA, Philippines - Budget airline Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific) is set to accept the delivery of its 49th aircraft next month, part of its $4-billion refleeting program as it gears up for more long-haul flights this year.

Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog said the low-cost carrier is set to use its third Airbus A330 aircraft for flights to Cebu and Davao from Feb. 25 to June 8.

 â€œWe look forward to serving Cebu and Davao guests on our newest A330 aircraft, and offering A330 travel products such as CEB Air Wi-Fi. These additional seats are just in time for the Philippine summer season, so we encourage guests to book their flights in advance for the most travel savings,” she stressed.

Iyog said the 436-seater aircraft would increase the seat capacity for daily Manila to Cebu flights and twice daily flights for the Manila to Davao route during the period.

 â€œOur third brand-new Airbus A330 aircraft from Toulouse, France not only increases the number of seats available to Cebu and Davao, but also features Airbus’ fuel-saving technology that allows us to keep our fares low,” she added.

The airline has a 48-strong fleet composed of 28 Airbus A320, 10 A319, two A330 and eight ATR-72 500 aircraft. It is in the middle of a refleeting program involving the acquisition of 49 brand-new Airbus aircraft.

Cebu Pacific is scheduled to take delivery of 14 more brand-new A320, 30 A321neo, and four A330 between 2014 and 2021. For this year alone, Cebu Pacific would take the delivery of five Airbus A320 and three A330.

Cebu Pacific inked a $15 million deal to acquire 100 percent of Tiger Airways Philippines last Jan. 8.  With the acquisition of Tigerair Philippines, the airline plans to shift some of its aircraft to Tigerair Philippines that is expected to return the lease of three A319 to its parent firm in Singapore.

The airline plans to use the A330 to launch new routes in the Middle East and Australia.

The carrier is also gearing up for possible flights to the US and Europe as the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) continued to address aviation safety concerns.

However, the airline’s plan to seek the green light from the European Union to fly to European airspace in November got derailed after Super Typhoon Yolanda battered several provinces in the Visayas last Nov. 8.

The EU, which lifted the ban on flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) last July allowing it to fly to London last Nov. 4, is set to tackle Cebu Pacific’s application in March.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is expected to make an announcement on the upgrade of the country’s status back to Category 1 after it was downgraded to Category 2 in 2008 after CAAP failed to comply with safety standards for the oversight of air carrier operations.

It would be recalled that ICAO lifted the remaining significant security concerns after Philippines, through the CAAP, passed the audit conducted last year, paving the way for the series of upgrades.

The volume of passengers served by Cebu Pacific went up 8.3 percent to 14.35 million last year compared to 13.25 million in 2012. The number of domestic passengers climbed 7.6 percent to 11.04 million while that of international passengers grew 10.7 percent to 3.31 million.

The actual number of passengers was lower than the 15 million target set by the carrier that was involved in two accidents in June. Likewise, several weather disturbances, including Yolanda, led to the cancellation of several flights.