The operator of Cebu Pacific has asked the Civil Aeronautics Board to reallocate the unused seat entitlements to United Arab Emirates previously granted to rival PAL Express.
Cebu Air Inc., in a filing with the CAB, requested the reallocation of seven weekly frequency entitlements to UAE from the unutilized frequency entitlements previously allocated to PAL Express.
PAL Express, however, said it was evaluating the possibility of operating the routes to the UAE.
“We are keen on keeping our seven weekly frequency entitlements to the UAE,” PAL Express said.
PAL Express operated the Manila to Dubai route from November 2013 to March 2015.
Cebu Pacific has seven weekly flights to Dubai, three weekly flights to Riyadh, four weekly flights to Kuwait and two weekly flights to Doha in Qatar.
The combined passenger traffic of Cebu Pacific and Cebgo grew 8.4 percent to 12.21 million
in the first eight months of 2015 from 11.26 million passengers in the same period last year.
The two airlines’ passenger traffic expanded 7.4 percent to 1.52 million in August from 1.41 million a year ago.
Cebu Pacific and Cebgo’s seat load factor dropped 2.9 percentage points to 81.5 percent in January to August period from 84.4 percent last year.
The two airlines’ load factor inched up by 1.1 percentage point to 81.9 percent in August from last year’s 80.8 percent.
Cebu Pacific’s net profit grew 64 percent to P5.2 billion in the January-to-June period from P3.18-billion a year earlier.
Cebu Pacific and Cebgo, formerly Tigerair Philippines, generated revenues of P29.51 billion in the first six months of the year, up 10 percent from P26.72 billion last year.