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Cebu Pacific CEO Sees Welcome Reduction In Grounded Aircraft Numbers
SINGAPORE—Cebu Pacific has been making good progress in reducing the number of narrowbody aircraft that have been grounded due to engine availability problems, CEO Mike Szucs says.
The airline has cut the number of grounded aircraft to eight, Szucs tells Aviation Week on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow. This is a significant reduction from the third quarter of 2025, when it had up to 16 of its Airbus narrowbodies grounded.
Cebu Pacific is one of many airlines that have had to take many of their A320neo-family aircraft out of service due to maintenance shop visit backlogs for Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines.
Last year Cebu Pacific had to moderate its capacity growth plans when the number of grounded aircraft was higher than expected.
However, Szucs says the current level of eight aircraft out of service is the lowest it has been since the engine issues emerged, and “there’s no doubt it’s an improving outlook.”
Szucs estimates Cebu Pacific will average 8-10 grounded aircraft for most of this year, with a further improvement towards the end of the year. In 2027 the total out of service could be in the 3-5 range, he believes. “Then hopefully by 2028 we’ll finally see the end of [the groundings].”
One of the reasons for the improvement in aircraft availability has been Cebu Pacific's purchasing of additional spare engines. Pratt & Whitney has also improved the turnaround time for engine maintenance visits, Szucs says.
A long-term effect of the engine availability problems is that Cebu will have a higher ratio of spare engines than it normally would. “So that’s a lot of additional engines that we’ve had to put on the balance sheet, but we felt that it was necessary in order to help us get the [near term] growth that we wanted,” Szucs says.
Szucs says he is confident Cebu can achieve a growth rate of just over 10% this year, similar to last year’s level.
Cebu is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. It will have a new-delivery A321neo painted with a special “Dreamer Plane” livery to mark the milestone. The aircraft will enter service later this year after delivery from Hamburg.
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