Carriers eye direct flights to Saudi Arabia, Paris

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s biggest airlines are expanding their reach to the Middle East and Europe as soon as they address current fleet issues and build up their capacity for long-haul trips.

In particular, low-cost operator Cebu Pacific and flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) have set their eyes on Saudi Arabia and Paris, respectively, once market conditions become viable.

In an interview with The STAR, Cebu Pacific president and chief commercial officer Xander Lao said the airline was supposed to open new connections to Saudi Arabia and Vietnam this year.

However, Cebu Pacific had to postpone those plans with the shortage in aircraft parts, especially jet engines, hounding its day-to-day operations. In spite of this, the airline is keeping its doors open to adding Saudi Arabia to its flight network.

“The increase in destinations in Vietnam is certainly there, but we have to hold off given the fleet availability issues we have. Saudi Arabia is being studied as well,” Lao said.

“We are looking at Saudi Arabia, but we have not decided yet. Certainly not this year, but would it be in 2024, we will see. We are really studying (that destination),” he added.

Saudi Arabia hosts the highest number of overseas Filipino workers across the globe, accounting for 24.4 percent of the 1.83 million OFWs in 2021.

On the other hand, Vietnam serves as one of the most preferred destinations in Southeast Asia for Filipinos, with Cebu Pacific flying to Ho Chi Minh every day and to Hanoi five times a week.

PAL, for its part, is hoping to enter European grounds in the short term, especially as it expects to receive nine units of Airbus A350-1000s starting 2025. PAL spokesman Cielo Villaluna said the airline will talk to regulators soon about its plan to fly to Paris.

“We look forward to exploring opportunities for direct flights to Paris and other European cities in the near term. We anticipate discussions (on) this with concerned governments in due course,” Villaluna told The STAR.

Last month, PAL placed a firm order for the procurement of nine A350-1000, considered to be one of most efficient wide-body aircraft for its capacity to fly up to 9,700 nautical miles non-stop.

The flag carrier plans to deploy the new units for its long-haul trips, especially to Canada and the US, with the goal of adding Europe to its flight services soon.

For the immediate term, PAL and Cebu Pacific are focused on rebuilding their fleet to ensure the stability of commercial operations in the face of mounting delays in the delivery of aircraft parts.

PAL, for one, has parked a total of five aircraft – three A321neos and two A320ceos – awaiting the supply of jet engines from Pratt & Whitney, as well as specific parts. Cebu Pacific has grounded at least six aircraft pending the delivery of new components.

In response, PAL and Cebu Pacific have trimmed their flight schedules since the start of the year to prevent cancellations and delays. The airlines are working on improving their spare provisions before they start increasing their flight volumes again.

“To address this, we have proactively reduced our schedules since the beginning of the year and started sourcing additional engines for lease [and] adding aircraft to our fleet network,” Villaluna said.

“We have actively pulled down schedules all the way to September (and) we are now working on our 2024 schedules to see our flight availability,” Lao said.