Cebu Pacific Cleared for Increased Flights to Five Countries

The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) has given a green light to Cebu Pacific, allowing the nation's largest low-cost carrier to mount additional flights to five international destinations. With the new entitlements, passengers bound for Singapore, Myanmar, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Macau may soon enjoy an increase in flights or even the possibility of new routes.

According to Cebu Pacific Vice President for Corporate Affairs, Jorenz Tanada, the decision by the local air regulator is a victory for both local and international travellers that will be able to take advantage of Cebu Pacific's low fares. "We commend the CAB air panel for their wisdom in rendering decisions that allow Philippine carriers to expand services in international routes," said Tanada. "This ultimately benefits the travelling public, as Cebu Pacific continues offering the lowest fares, and driving international arrivals aligned with the country's tourism goals."

Copyright Photo: Lester Tangco/PPSG
Changes will be almost immediately noticeable on the Manila to Singapore route, where Cebu Pacific plans to upgrade their daily A320 service to a 436-seat Airbus A330-300 with the additional 1,260 seat entitlements that has been allocated to the carrier.

As Cebu Pacific awaits further entitlements to Australia, service to the neighbouring nation of New Zealand will definitely be on the horizon now that the airline has been granted seven weekly flights between the two countries. Cebu Pacific may also be able to explore the possibility of serving New Zealand via Australia using fifth freedom rights if the opportunity presented itself. The carrier is presently focused on the launch of its inaugural flight to Sydney, which is due to take off on September 9. Cebu Pacific will fly between Manila and Sydney five times per week.

Another positive outcome of the most recent Civil Aeronautics Board hearing was Cebu Pacific's successful challenge of an extension to the current arrangement between Philippine Airlines and Emirates, where PAL has been loaning a portion of its flight entitlements to Emirates to operate flights between the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates on a code-sharing basis. However, Cebu Pacific has argued that such an agreement is "anti-competitive," and the Civil Aeronautics Board has agreed.

As Philippine Airlines and Emirates will not be able to extend their code-sharing agreement, Emirates will be forced to drop one of its daily flights between Manila and Dubai in October 2014. In addition, Philippine Airlines will need to launch a second daily flight to Dubai if it wishes to continue holding the existing flight entitlements. If PAL fails to use all of the existing flight entitlements to the United Arab Emirates, they may be reallocated to Cebu Pacific.

The application for the increased flight entitlements is all part of an on-going effort by Cebu Pacific to expand its network and increase its global reach. With a current network covering 59 domestic destinations, 36 international routes, and 2,403 scheduled weekly flights, Cebu Pacific is quickly becoming the nation's most dominant carrier with an already commanding share of the domestic market. In addition to the new flight entitlements, Cebu Pacific was also designated as an official Philippine carrier to New Zealand, Canada, and Myanmar.

-Travelling_bk

13 comments:

  1. Hello,
    This may not be related to Cebu Pacific, which I dont really care about this airline.

    But I think PAL will soon to announce New York flight soon. Their is an Sneak Peak on their Instagram page that has this picture. Maybe they will launch a flight before the holidays, who knows. If they do, then thats a great way to boost up quickly since the holidays is one of the busiest days.

    Link: http://philippineairspace.blogspot.com/2014/09/sneak-peek.html

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    1. I hope you are not a Filipino who dislikes Cebu Pacific otherwise you can be committing a deadly sin called envy. Come on, be matured, show some love. Also, make sure your English grammar is perfect before you publish it. It's a bit amusing but also disgusting.

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  2. "This ultimately benefits the traveling public, as Cebu Pacific continues offering the lowest fares, and driving international arrivals aligned with the country's tourism goals."

    Here's something to remember about those "lowest fares" and how Cebu Pacific can offer them....Underpaid, overworked flight crews often flying extremely fatigued, minimal training to save money, and skimping on aircraft maintenance.

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    1. Cebu Pac will not be granted to fly to US and Europe if the airline is such crap. Besides, I encountered a bad flight attendant from PAL which I never experienced from LCCs.

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    2. CP has maneuvered around and got themselves the authority to operate US and Europe. But it's probationary, EASA and FAA are not fools nor can they be bought off like CAAP. I predict it won't take long for CP to get tossed out of Europe and the US once they start operating there. Just ask Hong Kong, KL, Singapore and Korea, they have tolerated CP's crap and undertrained/underqualified flight crews and have threatened numerous times to toss them out.

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    3. You must be on RSA's payroll!

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    4. Too much crab mentalities, folks. I think you have nothing beneficial to do. Go exercise yourselves, have a little positive thinking, as you seem to need to reduce your excessive body calories. Do not include Cebu Pacific in your hatred - leave the airline alone!

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  3. Those who lambast Cebu Pacific are really envious. I hope they have a chance to travel by air so they can feel how difficult it is to pay thousands of pesos (from their own pockets). That's why there are alternatives now, like low-cost carriers, legacy airlines, monopolistic airlines, etc. Make your choice.

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  4. Any news on when Cebu Pacific will start flying to New Zealand? Waiting too long for their announcement.

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  5. Wow! CEBU Pacific Air is more competetive than PAL

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  6. I have travelled a bit with Cebu Pacific, just that I have found their check-in staff both rude and almost ignorant of pax problems, sure we have rule's to follow, I think they need to just listen more to their flying public..

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