Philippine low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific is making 2023 the year for utmost growth and speedy recovery as it expects to restore pre-pandemic capacities by this month and is slated to exceed them by June. The Manila-based carrier also announced intentions to enhance fleet capacities to meet soaring passenger demand in the post-pandemic global market.

Beefing up capacity with new fleet additions

Cebu Pacific currently has 65 aircraft - including ATR 72s, Airbus A320-200s, A320neos, A321-200s, A321neos, and A330neos, in its fleet that operates at least 279 daily flights across 85 routes. But with ambitions to meet growing demand and exceed pre-pandemic levels soon and to replace the missing long-haul capacities after being finished with the older Airbus A330-300s, the low-cost carrier will be spending approximately $650 million to add 15 new aircraft this year.

Cebu Pacific Airbus A321neo
Photo: Airbus

Among the 15 new fleet additions expected for this year, five will be leased mid-life aircraft from various lessors. The remaining ten will comprise an Airbus A330neo registered RP-C3906, due to be delivered in the upcoming months to help long-haul capacity levels, and several Airbus A320neos and A321neos.

While adding 15 new aircraft by this year might seem challenging for a still-recovering carrier, Cebu Pacific's new Chief Executive Officer Mike Szucz feels optimistic as he said:

"We’re growing Cebu Air in a very manageable fashion, and I want us to emerge stronger compared to our competition than we were before. I think we're well placed to do that because we were a strong airline before the pandemic, and looking at the competitive landscape now, we have opportunities to multiply into the available space."

Cebu Pacific
Photo: at.rma/Shutterstock

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Aiming to grow further internationally

Cebu Pacific has had no problems maintaining and further dominating the domestic market during the pandemic and post-pandemic era after boosting its domestic share to about 57% last year compared to 52% back in 2019. The low-cost carrier also flew nearly 13.5 million domestic passengers last year, but the numbers were distant from the less than five million international passengers ferried.

Fortunately, the international numbers are slated to rise further this year after Cebu Pacific announced plans to expand its network in January, with Hong Kong and Tokyo-Narita becoming new destinations from its Mactan-Cebu International Airport hub. The low-cost carrier will soon restore all 25 international destinations, including China, by next month.

Although China is a significant market, Cebu Pacific tends to take the restoration of flight services slowly before reinstating pre-pandemic frequencies, which would still slow down the growth rate of the airline's international market. To compensate for the limited growth, the airline will also focus on improving its share of global sales, wanting to make its brand as attractive to overseas passengers as it is to local passengers.

Cebu Pacific Airbus A320neo
Photo: Marc Clinton Labiano | Shutterstock

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Bottom line

Following months of losses after last year brought plenty of challenges to uphill its recovery path, Cebu Pacific headed into this year with renewed confidence as opportunities to grow appeared for the low-cost carrier to take full advantage of. And the airline's eventual growth seems to be paying off, as it expects to return to the black within this quarter. All that appears to be left now is for the fleet expansion to go on smoothly and for the international network to be fully restored.

  • rsz_airbus_50th_years_anniversary_formation_flight_-_air_to_air
    Airbus
    Stock Code:
    AIR
    Date Founded:
    1970-12-18
    CEO:
    Guillaume Faury
    Headquarters Location:
    Toulouse, France
    Key Product Lines:
    Airbus A220, Airbus A320, Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Airbus A350, Airbus A380
    Business Type:
    Planemaker