Budget airline Cebu Pacific (CEB) is planning to mount long-haul flights next year in areas with large Filipino communities such as Australia, the Middle East, and parts of Europe and the US.
CEB president and chief executive Lance Gokongwei said the long-haul flights will commence in the third quarter of 2013 using eight leased Airbus A330-300s.
“The A330-300 will give us the lowest cost per seat, allowing us to drive long-haul fares 35% lower than those currently offered by other airlines, and as much as 80% lower when CEB offers promo fares. This aircraft type is very well suited to the kind of network we want to build and the routes we want to launch,” Gokongwei said.
“We are exploring serving cities where large Filipino communities reside — Europe, Middle East, Oceania and the USA. Data indicates that more than half of Filipinos deployed in these regions take multiple stops and connecting flights because no home carrier can fly them there non-stop,” he explained.
In Saudi Arabia, he said only 165,000 passengers flew direct non-stop flights from Manila compared to 293,000 Filipinos deployed to that country in 2010. This means nearly half of Filipinos who flew to Saudi Arabia in 2010 had to take multiple flights to get to their destination.
Photo from http://www.cebupacificair.com/
