BUDGET airline Cebu Pacific Air (CEB) is expanding operations with additional regional and domestic flights starting next month.
CEB is increasing flight frequencies in eight regional destinations and some domestic destinations to accommodate increasing traffic.
Starting December 4, 2010, Manila-Hong Kong flights will be increased to five times daily, and starting December 17, 2010, the Manila-Singapore service will be 32 times weekly.
Other routes that will increase flights starting December 16, 2010 are Manila to Kuala Lumpur and Brunei, which will become 10 times weekly and thrice weekly, respectively.
Flights from Manila to Ho Chi Minh and Jakarta will become daily and four times weekly, respectively, starting December 19, 2010.
In the first quarter of next year, CEB’s Manila-Seoul (Incheon) service will be twice daily, and its Manila-Bangkok service will be 10 times weekly.
In the domestic trade, CEB will increase its direct Cebu-Bacolod flights to twice daily starting November 24, 2010.
From December 5, 2010 onward, the Manila-Cebu flights will also be 12 times daily, and Manila-Boracay (Caticlan) flights will be 11 times daily. Flights from Cebu to Puerto Princesa will also be increased from thrice weekly to seven times weekly.
Flights from Cebu to Boracay (Caticlan) and General Santos will be twice daily.
Starting December 16, 2010, Manila-Kalibo flights will be 16 times weekly, and Manila-Puerto Princesa flights, four times daily starting February 5, 2011.
Three brand new Airbus A320s will be used for the additional services. The three form part of eight new Airbus A320s which the airline will purchase within the next 12 months. All eight will increase the airline’s total capacity by about 30%.
CEB this month raised $539 million from an initial public offering to fund its expansion program, including aircraft acquisition.
