Seair leases 2 Airbus 320

Seair has finally concluded the lease contract for two Airbus 320 aircraft which it will use for its planned international flights to Macau and Singapore.

This was announced yesterday by Seair President Avelino Zapanta who, likewise, disclosed that Seair has also filed just this Monday, Jan. 22, its approval request for the lease contract with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB).

It would also file soon its request to fly to Macau and Singapore. According to Zapanta, "we have concluded the lease contract for the two A320 and have accordingly filed for approval at the CAB last Monday.  We will be filing the schedules and request for approval to operate certain new routes which basically are the ones we already announced."

Zapanta added that Seair is ready to answer any possible objections that may be filed by its competitors.

"We expect that in the coming days and weeks some objections will emanate from certain industry sectors but we will be ready to face them in public hearings that the CAB might call on the various filings we would make," Zapanta said.

Seair, Zapanta said, is set to market in the next couple of months a brand new product that would cater specifically to budget travelers.

The new product, Zapanta said, would be an "inter-lining/code-sharing" arrangement with Tiger Airways of Singapore.

The new product would use the Tiger brand, because of the strong name recall, but would be operated by Seair using two A320s leased from Tiger Airways.

Initial destinations, Zapanta said, would be from Clark to Singapore and Macau.

Eventually, Zapanta said, the routes could expand to Kaoshiung, Taiwan and Inchon, Korea.

Seair is set to sign the lease contract with Tiger Airways next month.

At present, SEAIR services purely domestic routes, with its primary market being the leisure vacation segment.

Its most profitable route is to Caticlan, gateway to Boracay Island, with 28 roundabout flights a day, followed by other destinations such as El Nido, Coron and Busuanga in Palawan, Baler in Aurora, Quezon and to Batanes during the summer season.

With Zapanta’s entry as the new head of Seair, the airline veteran (he was formerly the president of Philippine Airlines), hopes to build up the domestic carrier and possibly give the current No. 2 airline – Cebu Pacific – a run for its money.