Liza Gokongwei steps down as Cebu Air director

MANILA, Philippines — Cebu Air Inc., the operator of budget carrier Cebu Pacific, has appointed an airline veteran as a new member of its board of directors following the resignation of Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng.

Cebu Air in a stock exchange filing yesterday said Gokongwei-Cheng, sister of the company’s president and CEO Lance Gokongwei, had stepped down as company director.

Gokongwei-Cheng stepped down to focus on the Gokongwei group’s digital transformation and innovation efforts as head of digital transformation office, Cebu Air said.

Elected as a new director of Cebu Air is Brian Franke from Indigo Partners LLC.

Franke served as a member of the Frontier Airlines board of directors since December 2013.

He has been a principal of Indigo Partners LLC, a private equity fund focused on air transportation since 2004.

Franke has served on the boards of directors of various airlines based in Mexico and South America, as well as of a software company focused on providing real-time cost saving analytics to airlines.

He had also previously served on the boards of Tiger Aviation Pte. Ltd, a Singapore-based airline, and Tiger Airways Australia Pty Ltd., an Australian-based airline.

Last February, Cebu Air also brought in its board Grab Philippines co-founder Brian Cu and Kenny Rogers restaurant chain founder Bernadine Siy as independent directors.

Cebu Air Inc. posted a net loss of P7.3 billion in the first quarter, 517 percent larger than the P1.18 billion incurred in the same period last year as flight restrictions due to the pandemic continued to dampen revenues.