Despite the soaring fuel prices, budget airline Asian Spirit is still pushing through with its P6 billion expansion plans this year to open up more routes in Southern Philippines.
Asian Spirit chairman Donald G. Dee announced that despite the expensive cost of fuel, and its pending merger deal with Sea Air, the company will roll out at least nine new aircrafts this year, expressing confidence on the Philippines' active domestic travel market.
Dee said the airline is going to expand its route network, and is opening a flight access to untapped missionary routes such as Siargao in Mindanao, and in other areas.
Three more wide-bodied aircraft and five smaller turbo propeller planes will be delivered in the next six months as Asian Spirit penetrates the major domestic routes and develops new hubs in Mindanao.
Except for one or two that will be company-owned, these new aircraft would be on long-term leases.
The new Airbus aircraft will be used for the planned Manila-Cebu and Manila-Davao routes and other regional destinations such as Macau. It currently operates thrice-a-week flights between Zamboanga and Sandakan, Malaysia.
So far, he said Asian Spirit is managing and keeping up well with the situation, referring on the expensive cost of fuel.
Instead, the acquisition of new aircraft will improve efficiency and help the airline cope with rising fuel prices, he said.
"There may be an increase in air travel cost, but there is also a tremendous increase of air travel consumers. It's a business that we can't look at return heavily," he said in his recent visit to Cebu.
He said Sea Air is not discounting the very stiff competition in the domestic air travel business, as the two bigger carriers are also active in opening more domestic routes. However, he said the strength of Asian Spirit is its capacity to enter into smaller destinations, because it has smaller aircraft designed for small island destinations.
"We are also coming in new routes, with improved services," Dee added.
Despite the perceived peace and order problem in Mindanao, Asian Spirit is still bent on creating Mindanao hubs in Zamboanga and Cagayan de Oro.