Cebu Pacific Rebrands Tigerair Philippines as Cebgo

Cebu Pacific, parent company and owner of Tigerair Philippines, has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary has been rebranded and will begin operating as Cebgo. According to airline officials, the rebranding was designed to better reflect the relationship between the two companies.

tigerair philippines
Image Source: Cebu Pacific
"The new Cebgo brand clearly identifies us as part of the Cebu Pacific group, and streamlines our operations further," said Michael Ivan Shau, President & CEO of Cebgo. "Cebgo will continue to leverage on Cebu Pacific's distribution channels and network, and work together to serve more guests."

The new branding utilizes Cebu Pacific colours, further aligning the two carriers as one. In addition, cabin crew have begun playing "Fun Games" on board Cebgo aircraft - a tradition that is standard aboard Cebu Pacific aircraft. Airline staff will also be switching to Cebgo uniforms within the next few months. It remains unclear if any aircraft will be repainted.

Cebu Pacific acquired Tigerair Philippines in March 2014 after years of losses at the fledgling carrier. Since obtaining control of the carrier, Cebu Pacific Group has been able to quickly turn the carrier around, narrowing financial losses considerably. Aircraft utilization has also improved with ten new routes being launched and operated by the subsidiary carrier. 

Cebgo will continue to operate flights from Terminal 4 at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. It currently offers service to sixteen cities including Bacolod, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Clark, Cebu, Davao, General Santos, Iloilo, Kalibo, Legazpi, Manila, Roxas, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban, Tagbilaran, and Hong Kong. In 2014, Cebgo carried 1.3 million domestic passengers. 

It remains unclear to what extent Cebu Pacific Group will continue working with the Singapore-based Tigerair Group. Last year, the two groups formed a strategic relationship, which involved joint operation of routes between Singapore and the Philippines, combined selling of routes through code-sharing and interline agreements, and a branded partnership in marketing communication materials.

Since its acquisition of Tigerair Philippines, Cebu Pacific Group has managed to acquire a dominant 60% share of the Philippine domestic air travel market. It is believed that Tigerair Philippines, now operating as Cebgo, will turn its first profit in 2015 as Cebu Pacific continues to reduce the carrier's costs, which are still not completely in line with Cebu Pacific's bottom line. In 2014, Tigerair Philippines accounted for 5 percent of Cebu Pacific's revenue. 

Acquiring Tigerair Philippines gave Cebu Pacific access to much needed slots at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which has enabled Cebu Pacific to increase frequency on domestic routes, and grow market share. Most recently, two new routes were launched in March 2015, which are now being operated by Cebgo - Manila to Legazpi and Cebu to Puerto Princesa. Cebu Pacific also operates these routes in conjunction with Cebgo as it does many other routes in the subsidiary's network. 

Further growth at Cebgo remains unlikely as Cebu Pacific has now boosted aircraft utilization rates and is now using all of the carrier's slots in Manila. According to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, the outlook for Cebu Pacific Group's domestic operations is bright as market conditions remain favourable. At this point, there seems to be minimal risk of anything eroding Cebu Pacific's dominant domestic position as competing budget carrier, AirAsia Philippines concentrates on the international market. 

Tigerair Philippines, formerly known as SEAir, was partially acquired by Singapore's Tigerair Group in 2012. 40 percent was owned by the Singapore parent, while 60 percent was held by Filipino investors. Under the leadership of Tigerair Group, Tigerair Philippines was highly unprofitable incurring a loss of nearly USD $54 million in 2013. The airline was eventually purchased by Cebu Pacific in March 2014.


11 comments:

  1. ang pangit nga naman ng bagong name. tsk

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  2. I have a question, bakit hindi na lang nila imerge into one yung 5J and DG?

    The same for AirAsia PH, AirAsia Zest?

    Is it like a business thing to keep each entity separate?

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    Replies
    1. each has its own Airlines Operations Certificate or franchise from the government; thus the need to maintain separate airline codes.

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  3. Their consultants might be elementary students. Cebgo is just awful! Hopefully it's not going to be an official flag carrier. The name is such a shame!

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  4. Cebuana. Go Cebu! FilipinAir. Air Filipinas. These are the best names for an airlines but WTF is Cebgo?

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    Replies
    1. Gokongwei came from cebu

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    2. Air filipinas sounds like full service carrier...

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  5. very awkward name CEBGO... same as CEBU PACIFIC'S ground and inflight services.. so very frustrating

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  6. wala na ba cebgo flight starting september sa clark?

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  7. hope ibalik nila hongkong, kalibo and try nila incheon sa clark via cebgo

    ReplyDelete

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