Northstar

www.travelweekly-asia.com | 13 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K AVIATION CEBU PACIFIC ORDERS NEW AIRCRAFT TO EXPAND OPERATIONS Cebu Pacific has flagged its intention to further expand its domestic and regional services by ordering seven Airbus A321neos. Cebu Pacific president and CEO Lance Gokongwei said the aircraft would enable the Philippines' largest carrier to increase capacity on popular routes, "while at the same time benefiting from the lowest operating costs in this size category". The aircraft joins an existing order for 32 A321neos. Deliveries will begin next year. Cebu Pacific is a member of the Value Alliance, comprising a group of airlines from across the Asia Pacific region that have established the world's largest budget carrier alliance. The grouping consists of Cebu Pacific (including wholly owned subsidiary Cebgo), Jeju Air, Nok Air, NokScoot, Scoot, Tigerair Singapore, service regionally and nationally," said Gokongwei, when the deal was announced last year. In another move to concentrate services most on its most profitable routes, Cebu Pacific has suspended flights on three routes between the Philippines and the Middle East - Riyadh, Kuwait City and Doha. The airline blamed strong competition for the suspension of the three routes. "The entry of Cebu Pacific into these markets benefitted Tigerair Australia and Vanilla Air. It offers a collective network of 160 destinations and a combined fleet of 176 aircraft. "All the airline partners are champions in their local markets and well regarded for their value and passengers with lower fares and more choices. Of late, other carriers have aggressively added more flights, which has resulted in substantial oversupply of seats and fares that are so low, hence making the routes unsustainable," said Atty JR Mantaring, Cebu Pacific's vice president for corporate affairs. Cebu Pacific will retain its services to Dubai. CEB currently offers flights to 38 Philippine and 30 international destinations, spanning Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and USA. PAL RECONNECTS WITH KL Philippine Airlines has resumed daily flights to Kuala Lumpur after a three-year absence. The news coincided with the start of a codeshare partnership between PAL and Malaysia Airlines, which will open up more destinations for both Filipino and Malaysian travellers. The new flights will also support the estimated 800,000 overseas Filipino workers who are currently employed in Malaysia. PAL will compete with AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia, Cebu Pacific and Malaysia Airlines on the new route. Cebu Pacific is increasing capacity on popular routes.

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