In terms of commercial aviation, Southeast Asia has been one of the slowest global regions to recover from the pandemic. Bucking that trend is Philippine low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific, which yesterday declared that it will have restored 100% of its pre-COVID network in March.

Weeks away from 100% recovery

A Cebu Pacific A330-900neo in flight
Photo: Hetzark Segundo RPLL via Wikimedia Commons.

According to the Philippines' news outlet Inquirer, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and customer experience, Candice Iyog, said yesterday the carrier would fully restore its 34 domestic and 25 international routes by March. The LCC currently operates about 350 flights daily, getting closer to the 380 to 420 it ran before the pandemic. In 2022, Cebu Pacific carried nearly 15 million passengers, a massive leap from 3.3 million in 2021.

Iyog summed up the airline's state by simply declaring, "We are back." She added that the airline is excited to welcome more passengers onboard, "especially now that we are back to easier times."

"We are proud to announce that Cebu Pacific has emerged stronger after nearly three years of pandemic and that we are ready to give our customers a better flying experience. And so, we confidently say - Let's fly, Every Juan."

Cebu Pacific has restored more than 92% of its pre-COVID, with the airline saying it would increase frequencies to the following destinations:

To recover fully, Cebu Pacific will fully restore its flights to all its 25 international destinations in 14 countries by March 2023. These are the routes:

Find more news about Asian aviation here

New aircraft coming in 2023

Cebu Pacific has an order with Airbus for 10 A321XLRs.
Photo: Airbus

To meet this increased demand and to give passengers an enhanced experience, the airline is adding ten new Airbus aircraft in 2023. It will induct three A320neos, three A321neos and four A330neos, with the most recent arrival being its ninth A320neo which it received on January 1st. Since January 6th, the A320neo has flown a busy schedule of domestic flights, although today, it is making a return trip from Manila Ninoy Aquino International (MNL) to Hong Kong International (HKG).

As of January 3rd, the airlines fleet totalled 77 aircraft, including 21 A320ceos, nine A320neos, seven A321ceos, 10 A321neos, four A330ceos and four A330neos. It also has a turboprop fleet of 14 ATR 72-600s, six ATR72-500s and two ATR Freighters.

On the financial recovery, airline president Xander Lao said that with the restoration of 100% of flights, he was "hoping for a full-year net income." However, he did flag some concerns:

"By first quarter, we aim and hope to be profitable [as] the first quarter is traditionally strong, particularly for January. It really depends because fuel prices started going up again, that's going to be a challenge. But the one thing that's benefited [us] is the peso has strengthed."

If Cebu Pacific does record a net profit for the January to March quarter, it will be its first profit since the first quarter of 2020. Helped by growing demand in the second half of 2022, the airline booked a net loss of P2.5 billion ($45.9 million) in the January to September period, compared to the P12.05 billion ($221.2 million) it lost in the same period in 2021.

Have you traveled on any of Cebu Pacific's new Airbus neos? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Inquirer.net

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    Airbus
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    AIR
    Date Founded:
    1970-12-18
    CEO:
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    Headquarters Location:
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