Filipino carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB) has increased capacity in key hubs to address increasing demand from the leisure and business sectors.
In its Cebu hub, CEB has increased the weekly frequency of flights to and from Cagayan de Oro (Laguindingan), Dumaguete, Siargao, Iloilo, Caticlan (Boracay), Ozamiz and Zamboanga by an average 63 per cent, starting 15 April , 2019.
Flights between Manila and Cebu has likewise increased 24 per cent. The increase in flights from its Cebu hub is on top of its six-times-weekly Cebu-Shanghai and Shanghai-Cebu routes which began on 15 April, 2019.
CEB had earlier stated they would ramp-up capacity in its Cebu hub by as much as 20 per cent in 2019. The carrier is positioning Cebu has its beach hub—with strategic connections to Siargao, Camiguin, Puerto Princesa and Caticlan (Boracay).
From Cebu, CEB also mounts direct flights to Bacolod, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Calbayog, Clark, Davao, Dumaguete, General Santos, Kalibo, Legazpi, Pagadian, Surigao, Tacloban, Hong Kong, Macau, Tokyo (Narita), Singapore and Incheon.
For its Clark hub, CEB has also increased capacity of flights to and from Caticlan (Boracay) by 231 per cent shifting from the 78-seat ATR 72-600 aircraft to the Airbus A320.
The carrier had earlier announced it would launch daily flights between Clark and Iloilo; Clark and Bacolod; as well as Clark and Narita, starting 9 August, 2019; and daily flights between Clark and Puerto Princesa starting 9 October, 2019.
“We are now in a position to allot aircraft to expand key routes in our other hubs. We are excited over the prospects for growth and will continue to roll-out new routes when the opportunities arise,” said CEB vice president for commercial planning, Alexander Lao.
Meanwhile, CEB will also mount an additional daily flight between Manila and Bangkok, starting 28 April, 2019, raising capacity by 41 per cent.
The carrier is also upgauging aircraft for key international routes from Manila starting this month, switching to its 236-seat Airbus A321NEO for flights to and from Narita and Denpasar (Bali), ramping up capacity by three per cent, respectively; and to its 436-seat Airbus A330 for its Osaka and Shanghai routes, which will grow the number of seats by 90 per cent, respectively.
