Cebu Pacific Launches Maiden Flight to Kuwait

Cebu Pacific, the nation's largest low-cost carrier, launched its inaugural flight between Manila and Kuwait earlier this week on September 2. The three weekly flights operated by the budget carrier are the only non-stop flights between the two countries.

Image Source: Cebu Pacific
The Kuwait flights will be operated by Cebu Pacific's 436-seat Airbus A330-300 in an all-economy configuration. It will be the second long-haul destination to be offered to the Middle East by Cebu Pacific after Dubai, which was launched late last year. 

Cebu Pacific's inaugural service to Kuwait departed Manila at 9:30pm and touched down at Kuwait International Airport at 3:10am on Tuesday. The new service will compete with Kuwait Airways, which flies from Kuwait to Manila via Bangkok using an Airbus A340.

Copyright Photo: Angelo Agcamaran/PPSG
According to Cebu Pacific, the carrier is pleased to offer its trademark lowest fares to the 180,000 overseas Filipino workers currently residing in Kuwait. "We are proud to offer our kababayans, the fastest, most affordable way to come home," said Alex Reyes, General Manager of Cebu Pacific's Long Haul Division. "Through Cebu Pacific's trademark low fares, and direct, non-stop service, we hope that they get to enjoy being around their loved ones more often."

Cebu Pacific has been targeting the Middle East since 2009 as the focus region for its long-haul division. In addition to Kuwait, the carrier has identified the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Saudi Arabia as key markets, which the carrier intends to serve. The Middle East market, which is home to nearly 2.2 million overseas Filipino workers is ideal for the budget carrier as it is home to price-sensitive migrant workers. 

overseas filipino populations
Image Source: Cebu Pacific
The flights to Kuwait will be offered every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. The return flight to Manila will be offered every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday departing Kuwait at 4:40am and arriving in Manila at approximately 7:20pm.

Cebu Pacific recently accepted delivery of its fifth A330-300 wide-body aircraft, which is the third wide-body aircraft to be delivered to the carrier this year alone. On September 9, Cebu Pacific will be expanding its long-haul services yet again with the introduction of flights to Australia. 

The carrier will fly between Manila and Sydney four times weekly. Both new routes are designed to serve Filipino expatriates and open more opportunities for tourism between the respective countries. Passengers on board the flights to Kuwait and Sydney will have the option of purchasing advanced seat selection, baggage allowance, in-flight meals, and in-flight wireless internet access. 

36 comments:

  1. The emphasis on "436-seat A330-300" on every post. :))

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    1. Maybe they should emphasis "no in flight entertainment", "no inflight meal service(unless you pay extra)", "no inflight drinks(water only)" and very uncomfortable minimum pitch seats".

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    2. Why put emphasis on those fancy things. The term "low cost carrier" is already mentioned in the first place.

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    3. Because CP is the bottom dweller of the LCC world. Actually they should call themselves a ULCC "Ultra Low Cost Carrier".

      At least the other "LCC's" in the region try to add a little value to the service.

      In the long haul market CP is really no more cheaper than the full service carriers.

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    4. Where in the world can you find a 436 seat A330? I guess that's what they're trying to say. Don't think too much dear.

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    5. That's how Cebu Pacifc makes profit - squeez the passengers into a 3-3-3 on a supposedly 2-4-2 configured aircraft and make them feel very uncomfortable especially on long-haul flights and no IFEs on board. What a way to torture them!!

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    6. You obviously have not seen PAL's new pride & joy, their recently delivered A330's with 3-3-3 seating & no IFE. A copycat of Cebu Pacific's configuration. If you can't beat 'em, join them!

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    7. To Anonymous Blogger dated 9/7/14 @9:41 AM,
      Where can I find a 436-seater A330300?
      Answer:
      A French Airline called XL Air flying to choice destinations like Las Vegas, Miami, Havana, Dominican Republic, San Francisco, etc., from Paris, France, the world's most romantic and beautiful city! As a no-frills airline, it is very attractive to passengers who want to save a lot of money. Why pay $1,300 when you only pay $600? The rest is French innovation, hospitality, delicious French inflight food, etc. Another airline is called Air Berlin of Germany which is even better than XL because it can afford to fly to numerous destinations because it is not only cheap but also the second largest airline in Germany. Let's talk solid airline business here.

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  2. New article please...

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  3. To those ignorant morons who keep on complaining about CP's cheap service, CP is catering to price sensitive consumers. There is a market and a demand for it. That is how business works and that is their business model. CP has been the only carrier who is making consistent profits early this decade up to now, and they are doing a great service to the Filipino people, especially to the hard working OFWs. PAL is having a hard time competing with Cebu Pacific, and this competition is keeping prices down.

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    1. CP is profitable because they pay their employees peanuts and run the operation as cheaply as possible by neglecting maintenance, ignoring regulations and skimping on training.

      For that cheap seat you have a fatigued flight crew that has had minimal to no real training, flying you in a plane that rarely sees any real maintenance.

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    2. As far as those "price sensitive" customers go, when you see the real price of the ticket you can certainly fly on a full service carrier for the same price. The prices CP advertises do not include all of the "fees" they tack on. It's all smoke and mirrors.

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    3. Exactly! Some passengers just don't know that they can get a better deal with other airlines for the same amount of money they'd otherwise pay for a Cebu Pacific tickets.

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    4. Cebu Pacific is around $25 cheaper than Emirates from Dubai to Manila. That's with taxes, 20kg baggage and full meals included. So technically, they still offer the lowest price. OFWs can decide what to do with that savings. Some have a little money to spare while some don't...

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    5. That would be a round trip flight. Savings vary

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    6. i would love to pay that extra 25$ with emirates.. how much is it anyway.. always had good memory with emirates

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    7. $600 roudtrip for emirates for flights a month from now.

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    8. Here in Kuwait, the roundtrip flight KWI-MNL on Cebu Pacific costs $722 (with 2 meals and 40 kgs. baggage allowance).

      While with Emirates, it costs $930, and with Kuwait Airways, its $1,234.

      Imagine, for an OFW, that is a huge savings already if he is going to fly with Cebu Pacific. Of course, as it is an LCC, don't expect the same things you expect from a normal carrier.

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  4. A lot of sour graping from bupac haters! Whatever... They make a lot of money. And fyi, their pilots get paid more than PAL! And their planes are maintained by SIA engineering, which is better than Lufthansa Technik. Forget German efficiency. Singaporean engineering is tops!

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    1. You don't have a clue. PAL has better pay (pay guarantee), better schedules (a real FRM system). The line maintenance mechanics employed by CP are lazy, the airplanes fly around with multiple broke items (Sir, we'll fix that later!) The only pilots that love CP are the low time inexperienced ones hoping for that first jet job and are willing to whore themselves out to get it.

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    2. Remember the filipino saying: Kapag ang puno ay hitik sa bunga,ito ay binabato.

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    3. With basic pay, PAL pilots get paid more but Cebu Pacific pilots get paid more with productivity pay. And 5J pilots fly a lot more, average 80 hours a month, while PAL pilots fly around 40-50 hours. Maximum legal time allowed per month is 100. PAL pilots are spoiled brats. No wonder they don't make money. 5J definitely wins on efficiency. As far as flying with broken items are concerned, have you ever heard of such a thing as MEL? Yeah who's clueless now douchebag?

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    4. Mel is minimum equipent list douchebag. by the way im a320 typerated. let me ask you a question, what is squibs and adiru? cebupac pilots make more. and flying with a broken item and following the mel is no dangerous. In airbus you always have a backup.

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    5. i feel thankfull to Airphil who hired me with low hours. worked there 2 years and now im flying in middle east. flying a320 for Etihad as f/o and making 10k usd a month and i fly around 80-90 hours a month. before airphil captains was the highest paid before ramon ang took over.

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    6. there are many former cebupac pilots here.. not so many from Pal since they have a very macho attitude. and cebupac training is better than pals when it comes to groundschool knowledge.

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    7. If you're an Etihad pilot, then I'm a NASA astronaut. Dream on.

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    8. Find a CebuPac pilot or mechanic that can even read or comprehend a MEL.

      As far as the claim of CP's superior "ground training", everyone knows that's a laugh. All of the ground training is "Here is the test, and here are the answers, please fill out and hand in". And everyone scores 100!

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    9. I ask all 5J pilots not to dignify Mr. 7:09pm with a response. You guys have some of the best pilots around, from Capts. Castillo & Orros to FO Binamira! This idiot just jealous. He's probably a frustrated pilot who did not get hired.

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    10. @5:16pm your type-rating on Microsoft sim does not count!

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    11. @12:33pm don't forget Capt Osias too;-)

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  5. Good news for Cebu Pac. Tan is back in control at PAL.

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  6. Any new article? 4 days na kasi ito.

    P.S. PAASA LANG ITONG WEBSITE. Naghihintay lang kami sa wala tungkol sa bagong Manila International Airport, bagong destinasyon ng PAL/CEB, at marami pang iba.

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    1. Could we please conduct all discussion in English? Much as Tagalog is perhaps the nicest sounding Asian national langauge - way more pleasant than Vietnamese or Mandarin - it isn't the world language that English has become.

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  7. "Mr. English", forgive this Taglish conversations here as Philippine educational system in the last 40 years has eroded in terms of maintaining English language proficiency. The losers here are the Filipino professionals opting to become overseas foreign workers (OFWs). I have seen evidences in North America and Europe wherein OFW healthcare workers, for example, have had a hard time communicating in their first six months or more (in the job site). The winners here are the nationalists who continue to advocate the use in all schools of their local language (Tagalog) which is not even an international language (as everyone knows). So sad. This is called "regression".

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    1. What a waste of talent for these Filipinos who could be fully trilingual if their government maintained English and Spanish. They should be as proud as the Moroccans and Puerto Ricans if they had put politics and nationalism aside. Nowadays, this language barrier is a huge hindrance to the success of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) which is the only viable hard currency earner for their country.

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    2. By reading the statements of the previous bloggers (mostly airline pilots and employees of airlines from the Philippines) this reflects the crab mentality that is imbedded in their colorful /unique culture. Instead of helping one another to prosper, they argue, fight and despise each other; and they call themselves professional pilots at that?

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