Cebu Pacific Air is offering more promotional travel packages for Koreans to revive their appetite to travel to the Philippines following the declaration of martial law in Mindanao in May and a gunman’s attack in Resorts World Manila in June.
Darron Kang, sales supervisor of Cebu Pacific in South Korea, said travel bookings to the Philippines were affected by the negative news in the country.
Kang said Cebu Pacific incurred about 3,000 flight cancellations in the last 20 days because of the martial law declaration in Mindanao and the Resorts World attack.
He said despite the negative news in the Philippines, he was optimistic that travel bookings would recover in the second half as Cebu Pacific offered more promotional campaign and package tours.
“We have to make feel that Koreans are safe in the Philippines,” Kang said.
Cebu Pacific is targeting 80-percent to 85-percent load factor between Korea and the Philippines. The average load factor in the first five months was 78.5 percent. For Cebu to Incheon, the load factor was 76.6 percent; Kalibo to Incheon, 88.4 percent; Manila to Incheon, 81.2 percent; and Manila to Busan 68 percent.
Cebu Pacific offers flights to over 60 destinations including Dubai, Tokyo, Beijing, Bali and Sydney.
The airline’s 61-strong fleet, comprised of four Airbus A319s, 36 Airbus A320s, 8 Airbus A330s, 8 ATR-72 500s and 5 ATR 72-600s, is one of the most modern aircraft fleets in the world.
Cebu Pacific is set to take delivery of 7 Airbus A321ceo, 32 Airbus A321neo and 11 ATR 72-600 aircraft between 2017 and 2022.
