Cebu Pacific Eyes Flights To Australia, Saudi This Year

[Medic Mike]

MANILA, Philippines – Gokongwei-owned Cebu Pacific is considering launching flights to Australia and Saudi Arabia within the year, its president Lance Gokongwei said.

Gokongwei said the low-cost carrier is looking to push through with its plans to expand its long-haul operations to Australia before the end of September and to Saudi Arabia within the second half of the year.

There is an estimated 250,000 Filipinos living in Australia.

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has the largest population of overseas Filipino workers with more than a million migrant workers.
 
The airline recently beefed up its fleet to 52 with the arrival of a brand new Airbus A330 aircraft.

The new aircraft landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) over the weekend, with another A330 scheduled to arrive in August.

The low-cost carrier said it will be using five wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft for its long haul operations by the end of 2014.

It currently operates a fleet of 52 aircraft consisting of 10 Airbus A319s, 30 A320s, four A330s, and eight ATR-72 500s.
 
Cebu Pacific is currently implementing a $4 billion refleeting program to acquire nearly 50 brand new Airbus aircraft.

Eleven more Airbus A320s, 30 A321neos, and two Airbus A330s are expected to be delivered in the next seven years.

In April, the US Federal Aviation Administration (US-FAA) upgraded the safety rating of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) back to Category 1, which allows Cebu Pacific to mount flights to the US.

The budget airline may also fly to London, Paris, and Amsterdam after the Europe ban was lifted last month.

Cebu Pacific is currently serving 60 domestic routes and 34 international routes with a total of 2,231 scheduled weekly flights.

 

If this happens for Australia it will be awesomeeeeee! I am tired of TigerAir Flights :)

[the_whipster]

the low cost carrier model is so much better suited to short haul than long haul. Although Air Asia appears to be maklng their six Australian destinations pay for the time being, and you can now get to Sydney, Adelaide, Perth etc from Manila and Cebu via KL. Although there are only 100,000 Malaysian-Australians.

 

as for flying the 6,000 miles to London (and it is 8,000 miles, from Manila), Air Asia have tried that already and I flew it myself at a cost of USD $450 round trip. I grabbed it while I could, because I knew it wouldn't last. And it didn't.

[Ynot]

buying access to the tiger lounge in singapore helps to pass the time away.  PAL tried flying to Perth bu that did not last long.  Hopefully Cebu Pacific will last longer. 

[Medic Mike]

buying access to the tiger lounge in singapore helps to pass the time away.  PAL tried flying to Perth bu that did not last long.  Hopefully Cebu Pacific will last longer. 

I hope it comes to pass, these TigerAir planes are getting kind of old. I am looking forward to riding in the new CebuPacific planes if they end up flying out of Perth.

[Markham]

as for flying the 6,000 miles to London (and it is 8,000 miles, from Manila)

There you go, making stuff up! The Great Circle distance is 6,666 miles, not 8,000. Next time try Googling facts you're uncertain about.

[Medic Mike]

buying access to the tiger lounge in singapore helps to pass the time away.  PAL tried flying to Perth bu that did not last long.  Hopefully Cebu Pacific will last longer. 

I miss the PAL out of WA. I was booked on the last flight out of WA last year....however no one told the Perth powers that be. I got a call about 4 hours before my flight, informing me that the flight was no more....LOL....ended up flying from Perth to Melbourne, Melbourne to Manila, Manila to Cebu.....LOL....on the way home had to fly through Sydney on the way home...LOL...what a hassel.