Cebu Pacific Makes Domestic Market Promise

Filipino carrier Cebu Pacific has said it is ready to mount more flights to local destinations other carriers may abandon from the start of the Northern winter schedules later this month. In a statement it claims it is well placed to fill any capacity void and prevent disruption in travel connectivity within the country to help support economic, business and tourism growth.

“We have enough planes and more are coming this year and in the next few years to cover key local destinations and mount additional flights,” said Candice Iyog, Vice President for Marketing and Distribution, Cebu Pacific.

The airline says it is open to adding flights or exploring more route opportunities to and from Butuan, Cotabato, Cagayan de Oro, Dumaguete, Dipolog, Legazpi, Puerto Princesa, Roxas, Tacloban and Zamboanga. It has already announced more flights out of Cagayan de Oro, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban and Zamboanga, as part of the ten additional domestic routes it is launching in the 2nd half of 2012. These new routes are Cagayan de Oro to Zamboanga, Puerto Princesa to Iloilo and to Davao, and Tacloban to Iloilo.

“Cebu Pacific’s domestic passengers grew by 18 per cent in the 1st half of 2012, compared to the same period last year. Through Cebu Pacific’s 60 domestic routes and constant seat sales, local and foreign travellers can take advantage of theairline’s accessible options to travel to different parts of the country, via our hubs in Manila, Cebu, Clark, Davao, Iloilo and Kalibo,” Iyog added.

In the first half of 2012, Cebu Pacific grew its Cebu-Mindanao passenger traffic by 36 per cent, and its Cebu-Visayas passenger traffic by 53 per cent; while Luzon-Cebu traffic also grew by 49 per cent and Luzon-Manila traffic grew by 27 per cent, according to Iyog when comparing to the same period last year.

According to latest schedule data, Cebu Pacific this month has a 43.5 per cent share of the domestic capacity within the Philippines. This is more than double that of its closest rivals airphil Express and Philippine Airlines which have 21.0 per cent and 19.4 per cent shares respectively. This month Cebu Pacific has over one million available domestic seats (1,044,000), up 13.8 per cent on last month and 3.8 per cent on the same month last year.

In the table below we highlight the dramatic growth of Cebu Pacific in the domestic Filipino market since it made its debut in 1996. The airline has grown almost ten-fold in terms of departures over the subsequent years and twelve-fold in terms of seat capacity. In fact it has recorded year-on-year domestic capacity growth in all but two of these years, regularly reporting double-digit growth, sometimes as high as 60 per cent.