MANILA – Cebu Pacific will take delivery of 5 new Airbus aircraft next year as part of its re-fleeting program.
Jorenz Tañada, vice president for corporate affairs of Cebu Air Inc (CEB), said four A320s and one A330 are expected to be delivered for use in the carrier’s short- and long-haul flights.
“The Airbus A320s may be deployed to our new short-haul routes announced recently — Cebu to Narita and Cebu-Taipei — in March. As for the Airbus A330, we will deploy the aircraft on the Manila-Hong Kong route after the successful air talks in October,” Tañada said.
“We are looking to add frequencies in the Middle East and the US, pending regulatory approvals,” he added.
Cebu Pacific is flying to Kuwait, Riyadh and Dammam, and is applying for an operating permit from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to fly to the US after the Philippines last April bagged an upgrade to Category 1 status.
Cebu Pacific carried 12.5 million passengers in the January to September period, an increase of 14.8 percent year-on-year. In the third quarter alone, it carried 4 million passengers, a 16.8 percent increase compared to 3.4 million in the same three months of last year.
“The Cebu Pacific Air group is on track to meeting our target of serving 17 million passengers this year. CEB’s growth in the third quarter was driven by increased presence in key markets, sustained demand for air travel and industry capacity rationalization,” Tañada said.
The Gokongwei-owned budget carrier earned P2.08 billion in the first nine months of this year, up 213.1 percent from P664.08 million in the same period last year. Revenue rose by a quarter to P38.446 billion from P30.582 billion over the same period.