Cebu Pacific reaping benefits of offering long-haul flights

MANILA, Philippines - Budget carrier Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific) is reaping the benefits of offering long-haul flights as Australia and the Middle East were among its fastest growing routes in the first nine months.

In a statement yesterday, Cebu Pacific said the countries or regions with the highest passenger growth from January to September compared to the same period last year were Australia, the Middle East and Japan.

Data from Australia’s Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics showed Cebu Pacific accounted for a 38 percent market share on the Manila-Sydney route for the period of September 2014 to September 2015.

Overall traffic between Manila and Sydney also rose 67 percent since Cebu Pacific offered services to that route in September last year.

The growth in Cebu Pacific’s Middle East route meanwhile, was due to the launch of flights to Kuwait, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Doha in Qatar in recent months in line with the airline’s expansion.

Japan was also among Cebu Pacific’s fastest growing routes amid rising interest from Filipinos to visit that country.

In March, Cebu Pacific started offering direct flights to Narita in Tokyo from Cebu in response to market demand.

Cebu Pacific is likewise set to launch its Manila-Fukuoka route today.

In terms of its domestic routes, the Manila-Tagbilaran (Bohol) and Cebu-Tandag (Surigao del Sur) posted the fastest growth rates of over 100 percent for the January to September 2015 period from the same period a year ago.

“We’re pleased to see the Cebu Pacific effect in these markets, and will continue to study destinations where we can grow traffic. As we take delivery of more aircraft in 2016, including brand-new ATR 72-600s for Cebgo, we look forward to serving more guests, and creating more tourism and business opportunities to benefit the destinations we fly to,” Candice Iyog, vice president for marketing and distribution at Cebu Pacific said.

Cebu Pacific has flights to over 90 routes on 60 destinations and operates hubs in Manila, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Clark and Kalibo.