CEB apologizes for flight disruptions

CEBU, Philippines — Low-cost airline Cebu Pacific (CEB) has issued an apology to its passengers amid complaints of flight cancellations, which according to the airline is primarily driven by fleet availability issues and environmental factors.

“We empathize with our passengers, and we sincerely regret the inconvenience that we have caused.”

In a press statement, the Gokongwei-led airline said they have put in place initiatives to mitigate the situation and these include heightened customer care and recovery, reduced scheduled flights, and increase standby aircraft.

“We have established a disruption management team to augment our ground staff and help passengers during unexpected events.”

CEB said it has expanded its customer service capabilities by increasing the number of live agents who can assist its customers around the clock.

“We also refined our policies to give our customers more options beyond what is required by the Air Passenger Bill of Rights,” the statement added.

Fleet availability issues

Due to a global problem affecting the airline industry with over 120 grounded Pratt and Whitney-powered Airbus aircraft around the world, this also led to the sudden unprecedented number of grounded aircraft of Cebu Pacific.

“While CEB provisioned double the level of recommended spare engines as early as last year, we were advised in March 2023 that we would no longer receive the spare engines support that Pratt and Whitney had previously indicated.”

Immediately upon receiving such advice, CEB adjusted flight schedules accordingly to minimize the impact. A number of flights, which were scheduled and sold months in advance, inevitably had to be disrupted.

CEB currently has three aircraft grounded due to Pratt and Whitney and five aircraft long-term grounded due to other incidents. And while some of these grounded aircrafts will be out of service for a considerable amount of time, CEB have reduced flight schedules to account for the long-term unserviceable aircraft and enabling more standby aircraft on the day.

“We have increased our standby aircraft from three to four and will increase this to six by year-end. These aircraft can be used immediately should uncontrollable events happen on the day of flight. On top of this, we are leasing additional aircraft to further enhance our operational resilience.”

Aside from the Pratt and Whitney issue, other incidents such as ground damage from runway debris and the occurrence of Red Lightning Alerts have created additional long-term grounded aircraft.

Red Lightning Alerts requires the suspension of all flight and ground activities at the airport. From April to June alone there have been a total of 78 Red Lightning Alerts raised, some lasting for more than two hours.

CEB added that while it understands that it is their responsibility as a public service to manage external issues and deliver its promise to provide affordable and reliable flights, unfortunately the issues they have to face have been so difficult to deliver such promise.

“We understand that these mitigating actions may still seem insufficient for our affected passengers. We assure you that we are actively managing the situation and determining how we can assist affected passengers.” — /JOB