P10 air fares, or are they really?

Lent is here, school is going to be over in a few weeks. Most of us are thinking of the great once-a-year summer bakasyon grande. For us, itís usually the nearby blue waters of Anilao, maybe an occasional Baguio trip, or the great promise of a wonderful time in Cebu. So when we chanced upon an item in the newspapers about a P10 one-way airfare to any destination of Cebu Pacific for this summer, we latched on to the idea of a Cebu vacation this year.

The news item said that, in celebration of Cebu Pacific’s 10th anniversary, the airline will offer one-way air fare to any of its destinations starting March 3. Interested passengers had only up to March 8 (or till seats last) to purchase their tickets. These tickets are good from June 20 to Oct. 18 of this year, and there are supposedly more than 100,000 seats available for this great anniversary sale. One just had to log on to their website and seats can be booked and ticketed through this channel, or through any of its reservations offices and accredited travel agents.

We did access their website, long before the March 8 deadline. To make a long story short, one-way air fares to Cebu, through this special package, would cost not P10 but a minimum of P990. Apparently, the difference in cost is to cover taxes and surcharges.

While the press release specifically mentioned that the P10 airfare is "exclusive of taxes and surcharges", one has to stretch the imagination that the taxes and surcharges involved could go up to almost 1,000 percent of the basic cost of the ticket!

In fairness to this brilliant promo, the resultant P990 one-way ticket to Cebu is still way cheaper than the usual, and still much cheaper than, say, Philippine Air Lines. The entry of Cebu Pacific has pulled down the fares considerably. The company has pioneered in several firsts in the local aviation industry – low fares, e-ticketing and on-line booking, to name a few. I have traveled Cebu Pacific quite a few times in the past, and they did their best to make travel via their airline a little more fun and less boring, going the extra mile for more customer satisfaction.

The threat that this relatively new airline has posed to other more established (older) airlines is getting more and more real. They have embarked on an ambitious refleeting program and have acquired new aircrafts. As of December 2005, they have purchased six new aircrafts and by the middle of this year, they plan to acquire another six! Talk about ambitious refleeting and aggressive corporate moves. And still, by next year, they plan to add another two aircrafts to their rapidly expanding fleet. Philippine Air Lines has to look more intently into their market and counter more aggressively or, when they blink, they will have been overtaken by a young, Johnny-come-lately airline. Seriously.

But back to this promo. Stretching the imagination is always part of the game, I’m aware of that. I have always been in the thick of marketing and promo blitzes, but I still think P10 is way off P990. Maybe somebody from Cebu Pacific can explain this to us.

Bio-diesel is good for the consumers. Is it for the oil companies?

It looks like the merits of bio-diesel are slowly unfolding now. It took a long time coming, but studies have proven that bio-diesel is now a safe and viable alternative for motorists. And the government is making sure that the people are getting more aware of this.

But guess who's squawking?

In a recent news item I came across, Chevron Philippines, Inc., formerly Caltex is claiming that the studies conducted on bio-diesel’s viability are not nearly enough to consider it as an alternative for the daily motorist.

Should bio-diesel be made available in commercial quantities, think of its effects on global pricing. Countries with no black gold deposits to speak of can now be self-sufficient in fuel and can thumb their noses at those Arab countries that dictate world prices at their pleasure.

As for the existing giant petrol companies, the entry of bio-diesel can only mean huge infrastructure costs to them. Should this alternative fuel be made commercially available, and assuming that scientific studies will extol their merits with finality in the next couple of years, imagine the additional costs this would mean for these giant oil companies. They would have to have new pumps, new reservoirs, etc. One cannot start to comprehend the additional costs that all these would mean for these oil giants who have long ago settled back in chairs for a long, profitable haul. This has remained uninterrupted over the decades.

Is this why Chevron Philippines is squawking? Do we hear the other oil companies raising a howl as well? If you are going to believe the buzz in the coffee shops, word is if the idea crashed, it would be ironic to find out what sector caused it not to fly.

Next time you gas up in your friendly neighborhood gas station, don’t be surprised if the attendant asks you: palm sir, or kernel oil? Of course, this may not even happen in our generation, if the wheels of consumer interest continue to turn as painfully slow as it is happening right now, with the help of course of our friends at the oil companies. Still, it’s a bright ray of hope that someday, somehow, the little people will prevail over the giants.

So, you want to be a TV host?

If you are one of those who strongly feel that you have got what it takes to become a TV host or presenter or a TV producer, well this must be the chance that you have been waiting for.

Sunshine Television (stv), producers of long-running developmental TV programs is currently having a program production realignment and re-enhancement process. Part of this exercise is to discover new and fresh talents to be trained as TV segment hosts or presenters and production staff.

STV has long been known as a source of well-trained on-cam talents and production personnel, many of whom are already in the big time.

The gates are now wide open for the aspiring as auditions are now being conducted for those aspiring to become on-cam talents and interviews for those who are interested in TV production work.

We at STV strongly believe that Pinoy talents are indeed of global quality and count as the finest in the world, as long as they would be tapped early and trained well.

If you wish to try your luck just call 633-4422 for an appointment.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Flipino.

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