As holidays near
MANILA, Philippines — Airlines are starting to see pre-pandemic levels of air travel for the holidays, with at least seven in 10 seats booked at the onset of the Christmas season.
Low-cost carriers Cebu Pacific and AirAsia Philippines said they expect holiday demand for air travel to rise compared to the past two years, as this would be the first time since 2019 that cemeteries would be opened to the public for All Souls Day or Undas.
Cebu Pacific spokesman Carmina Romero said the Gokongwei-owned airline sees a rebound in ticket bookings not only for the Christmas season, but also for the Undas stretch.
“Before Christmas, Undas is also a heavy period for fliers. In fact, our embargo dates—meaning we don’t grant free flights and ex-deals during this period—is from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3,” Romero told The STAR.
“This is the first face-to-face Undas since 2019 because for 2020 and 2021 the cemeteries were closed to the public. Likely, the trips will go up this year,” she said.
AirAsia Philippines spokesman Steve Dailisan said the budget carrier would offer a seat sale from Sept. 19 to 25 to capture some of the holiday demand for air travel.
Further, Dailisan said the Philippine unit of the Malaysian airline would participate in the Philippine Travel Mart from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 to pitch forward bookings for travelers.
For September, at least seven in every 10 seats offered by AirAsia Philippines were booked, reflecting the resurgent demand for holiday flights this year.
“All our efforts are proven to be effective in terms of sustaining the pent-up demand for air travel as reflected in the forward bookings for [the next] 90 days. In fact, the load factor for the month of September is now at 71 percent and is still increasing,” Dailisan told The STAR.
On top of this, low-cost carriers vowed to keep airfares at affordable rates in light of the decision of the Civil Aeronautics Board to maintain the fuel surcharge at Level 9 in October. Under Level 12, airline firms can impose a fuel surcharge of P287 to P839 for domestic flights and P947.39 to P7,044.27 for international trips.
Fuel surcharge refers to the optional fee that can be slapped on passengers to recover the fuel expenses and minimize financial losses due to the sudden spikes in jet fuel prices.
“This initiative helps all airline companies to cushion the effect of the volatile fuel pricing and the weakening value of the peso versus the US dollar,” Dailisan said.