Cebu Pacific's First A330 En Route to Manila

Cebu Pacific, the leading budget carrier in the Philippines has officially taken delivery of its very first wide-body aircraft, an Airbus A330-300. The aircraft has received worldwide attention for being the world's most densely configured aircraft of that type featuring 436 seats in a single class configuration.

cebu pacific a330
Photo Source: Cebu Pacific
In a ceremony at the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France, officials from Airbus and Cebu Pacific officially turned over the aircraft and participated in a blessing ceremony. The airline will be using its first aircraft to increase capacity on popular existing services to Singapore and Seoul-Incheon beginning in July. 

cebu pacific a330
Photo Source: Cebu Pacific
An addition three more A330-300 aircraft are due for delivery prior to the second quarter of 2014. The second aircraft will be utilized to launch Cebu Pacific's first international budget long haul service from Manila to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. That service is expected to launch in October. The launch of the new service will make Cebu Pacific only the second airline in the Philippines to operate long haul services besides Philippine Airlines. Although Philippine Airlines subsidiary, PAL Express is expected to be launching its own long haul services to the Middle East just a week before Cebu Pacific putting both airlines in direct competition. 

cebu pacific a330
Photo Source: Cebu Pacific
Cebu Pacific intends to expand its long haul network to destinations that are home to large populations of Filipino overseas foreign workers. The airline already has application for new routes to other points in the Middle East including Riyadh, and Doha. Rumours have also been circulating that Cebu Pacific will soon be flying to Avalon Airport serving the metropolitan area of Melbourne in Australia. As skies open up for Philippine carriers, the airline plans to add destinations in Eastern Europe and the Western United States to its growing network. 
The airline intends to stimulate demand and grow the markets it serves. Lance Gokongwei, CEO of Cebu Pacific previously stated that the airline would only serve routes that it believed it could fly for 30-40% cheaper than competing carriers.

cebu pacific a330
Photo Source: Cebu Pacific
The airline intends to bring down fares on long haul routes by as much as 30% resulting in market growth of two to four times the current number of passengers. Being the highest density A330 operator in the world enables the airline to sell tickets at lower prices as the cost of the flight is divided among more passengers. The airline is bringing its standard no-frills service to the long haul market which made it a popular choice in the Philippines. In addition, it is expected that the airline will be introducing wireless internet service on board its flights for an additional fee. 
While the no-frills service proved popular domestically, it remains to be seen whether the airline can make the model work on a long haul basis flying to international destinations. But winning over the long-haul travelling public isn't the only hurdle for Cebu Pacific to deal with, it also faces concern over the lack of landing and passenger terminal slots at the highly congested gateway to the Philippines, Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

cebu pacific a330
Copyright Photo: H. Gousse/Airbus
 The Philippine government announced earlier this month that it had started refusing entry of new foreign carriers to Manila as a result of the current congestion. In less than one year, NAIA has jumped to being the 34th busiest airport in the world from its rank of 46th achieved the previous year according to the Center for Aviation in Sydney.  Approximately 40 flights take off or land every hour at NAIA using just a single runway system. 
Cebu Pacific also requires additional flight entitlements with several countries as in many cases, current agreements only permit one daily flight which is already operated by Philippine Airlines. New negotiations must take place in order to permit a second carrier to compete. 
Cebu Pacific's first A330-300 aircraft is due to touchdown in Manila for the first time on Saturday, June 15, 2013 at approximately 5:00am.

To track live progress of the delivery flight of the first aircraft, please click here

1 comment:

  1. Flying low-cost airfare airlines like Cebu Pacific is a way to save money and to make airline business competition stiff. Due to the monopoly of PR's Manila/USA flights, there was never a time when air fares were competitive in this lucrative market. With Cebu Pacific targeting USA routes, I can see an interesting competition and whoever offers the best fare and service will get my business. R. R., USA

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