The Cebu Pacific Air (CEB) is fast becoming the largest carrier in terms of capacity at Clark International Airport and two airports in Palawan after it started its direct commercial flight service between Clark and Guangzhou; Clark and Puerto Princesa; and between Puerto Princesa and Hong Kong.
By the year-end, CEB will hold 28 percent capacity share in Clark. It has been continuously operating flights in and out of the airport since 2006.
From Clark, CEB operates 190 flights weekly to Bacolod, Bohol, Caticlan (Boracay), Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Puerto Princesa, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Narita (Tokyo) and Singapore.
“Cebu Pacific has taken a measured pace of expansion in Clark, but we have always believed in the potential of Clark. Over the past 12 months, our capacity growth in Clark hit over 90%. With the growth in passenger traffic in Clark, we are bullish that the new routes we launched over the past few months will continue to perform strongly,” CEB chief strategy officer Alexander Lao said Thursday.
Meanwhile, CEB will cap 2019 with a 46 percent total capacity share in Puerto Princesa, the main gateway to Palawan, and the Busuanga Airport, which caters to Coron and the rest of northern Palawan.
CEB operates 190 flights weekly to and from Palawan, equivalent to over 1.1 million seats.
Aside from Hong Kong and Clark, CEB has direct flights to Manila, Iloilo, and Cebu from Puerto Princesa. From the Busuanga Airport, on the other hand, the airline operates direct flights to Manila and Cebu.
“We remain confident that Hong Kong will bounce back, and despite current concerns, there is continued demand for travel between Hong Kong and the Philippines. We are confident in the potential of Palawan to grow tourism sustainably, and we will continue to work with our stakeholders in Palawan to better connect the province to the rest of the Philippines and to key tourist catchpoints in Asia,” said Alex Reyes, CEB Vice President for Commercial.
As of end-September 2019, Cebu Pacific ramped-up capacity by 23 percent, totaling 19 million seats. The carrier flew close to 16 million passengers on 121 routes with more than 2,600 weekly flights.