Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific announced it was launching more flights from its home at Mactan-Cebu International Airport yesterday. The additional services mean that by June, Cebu Pacific will be operating more flights from its hub than it did pre-pandemic.

On June 23rd, Cebu Pacific will commence direct flights from Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB) to Taipei's Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE). The direct Mactan - Taipei service will increase Cebu Pacific's operations from the airport to five international and 23 domestic destinations.

Cebu is boosting connections to northeast Asia

As part of its expansion at Mactan, Cebu Pacific (Cebu) will also increase flight frequency on 11 of its destinations from CEB. The new and resumed flights will increase Cebu's capacity at Mactan by 76,000 per month, a jump of 21%. Yesterday's announcement comes on top of the resumption of flights to Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), and Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT) already announced.

The Mactan to Hong Kong route resumes on March 26th, while the Tokyo Narita flight will take off on May 1st. Cebu is also adding a new direct domestic service from Mactan to Naga Airport (WNP) starting on March 26th. To cater to the expansion, Cebu is adding two additional aircraft to its fleet at CEB, which is extra to the 10 Airbus A320neos it will receive this year. The airline's chief marketing and customer experience officer Candice Iyog said:

"Cebu Pacific is proud to have its largest base outside Manila in one of the best airports in Asia. We are excited to further expand our Cebu hub to connect more travelers to some of the world's best beaches and islands."

Last week Cebu announced it was expanding services from its hub at Clark International Airport (CRK) on Luzon Island in the Philippines. As with the new direct route to Taipei, Cebu is again heading north, this time to South Korea's capital city, Seoul.

The daily service will commence on May 5th, with flight 5J 176 departing Clark International at 10:35 for the four-hour flight to Seoul's Incheon International Airport (ICN), arriving at 15:45. It is on the ground in Seoul for an hour before departing as flight 5J 177 and arriving at Clark International at 20:05.

More aircraft are on the way

On the Cebu website, the Clark-Seoul direct service is listed as operated by an Airbus A320 with 188 seats. According to Planespotters.net, Cebu's nine A320neos are configured with 188 seats, so this is likely the aircraft type that will be headed for Seoul.

The balance of the 67 aircraft fleet includes Airbus A320-200s, A321-200s, A321neos, A330s and ATR 72 turboprops. Cebu is also in line for the Airbus A321XLR when it enters service next year, with ten on order. To support the expansion at Clark, Cebu said last week it would lease and base three additional aircraft there, again adding these are not part of the ten A320neos due to arrive in 2023.

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At the end of February, Cebu strengthened the Clark hub by adding more domestic and international routes and services. With the addition of the Seoul route, Cebu will have six international destinations from Clark, the others being Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Macau and Tokyo Narita. The LCC flies to 24 domestic and 25 international destinations across Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

Have you flown with Cebu Pacific recently? Let us know in the comments.