Cebu Pacific Gaining Share in Australian Market
The latest statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Transport have revealed that Cebu Pacific, the nation's largest low-cost carrier, emerged as the largest carrier on the Manila to Sydney route in May 2015.
According to the Bureau, Cebu Pacific carried 11,018 passengers between Manila and Sydney in May, representing 42% more than the next largest airline on the route. The carrier is presently the only low-cost carrier flying the route with five weekly flights. Cebu Pacific has been flying to Sydney since September 2014.
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| Copyright Photo: Angelo Agcamaran/PPSG |
The entry of Cebu Pacific seems to have stimulated the Philippines-Australia market with passenger traffic between Sydney and Manila increasing by 62 percent between September 2014 and May 2015. In the nine-month period, Cebu Pacific flew 85,254 people of the total 232,876 passengers that flew the route, which represents a 37% share of the market. Cargo volume on the route also increased by 33 percent.
According to Alex Reyes, General Manager of Cebu Pacific's long-haul division, the passenger and cargo growth validate Cebu Pacific's impact in new markets. "Low fares continue to drive trade and tourism between our countries," said Reyes. "We look forward to offering the most affordable fares to even more destinations in Australia in the coming months."
Flights between Manila and Sydney are operated by Cebu Pacific's 436-seat Airbus A330-300 aircraft featuring an all-economy configuration and wireless internet service for an additional fee. Cebu Pacific is currently seeking additional seat entitlements between the Philippines and Australia after both countries inked a new air agreement earlier this year.
Last April, Australia and the Philippines agreed to increase airline seat entitlements from 6,000 to 9,300 seats weekly. Cebu Pacific is requesting an allocation of 1,722 weekly seats for its flights to Australia. The budget carrier has long had intentions to serve Sydney on a daily basis with further plans to serve Melbourne. According to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, the Philippines-Australia market is currently under serviced.
Only problem is that given that based on their frequencies and the density of their A330s, that leads to an average load factor of about 60%. That's not very good is it? By comparison, PAL and Qantas carried less passengers but their load factors were in the 90s. I can't tell whether or not CebPac's load factor is good, but it right now I guess they still have a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteTheir advantage is their lower costs. They can turn a profit with a lower load factor than PR or QF.
Deletestill waiting your expansion to Darwin. Flights here to Manila are even more expensive than coming from Sydney...
ReplyDelete