Cebu Pacific News Archive

Cebu Pacific orders up to 20 more A320 aircraft

Cebu Pacific (CEB) will expand its fleet further with the purchase of up to an additional 20 Airbus A320 aircraft worth US$1.3 billion. CEB recently completed its US$670 million re-fleeting program last March 2, 2007.

Lance Gokongwei, CEB President and CEO announced that the fleet expansion of CEB is a continuance of the airline’s commitment to provide more Filipinos the opportunity to fly not only within the Philippines but around the wider Asia Pacific region too.

“We are buying up to 20 additional Airbus A320 aircraft for our domestic and international operations. The order is made up of 10 firm orders, with 5 options and an additional 5 options if the first five options are taken. We expect the firm orders to be delivered from 2010-2012 and the options from 2011-2013. Two of the orders are to replace leases that expire in 2012. This will allow us to grow our fleet from 14 Airbus aircraft to 32 Airbus aircraft by 2013. ” Gokongwei explained.

“With this fleet expansion, we will be more than doubling our capacity. This means that we will be able to provide more low fares both in the domestic and international routes we operate as well as spreading our wings to new destinations.” Gokongwei added. Currently, CEB operates in 20 domestic and 7 international destinations using 10 A319s and 4 A320s, with a fleet age of less than one year.

Gokongwei further explained that in order to bridge the gap from now until the first delivery in 2010, CEB will be taking short to medium term leases on Airbus A320 aircraft. Two Airbus A320 aircraft have already been delivered early this year and an additional one or two will be delivered later in 2007. In 2008 and 2009 three to four Airbus A320 aircraft will be added to CEB’s fleet each year. Gokongwei confirmed that the majority of these short-medium term lease requirements had already been finalized.

“As a consequence of these orders, we expect to increase our guest numbers from 5 million this year to 10 million in 2013 as we continue our unwavering support for the country’s tourism agenda.” Gokongwei emphasized.

Gokongwei added that in a little more than six months, CEB has added Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Jakarta to its route network as well as expanding its service to Hong Kong and Korea. He expects to announce several new international destinations in the coming weeks with service starting in just a few months.

Now in its 12th year, CEB operates the most domestic destinations, flights and routes, with by far the youngest fleet of aircraft in the Philippines, making the airline the Philippines’ leading domestic carrier and low fare leader.