Cebu Pacific boosts capacity on domestic routes

Cebu Pacific will increase the capacity of several domestic routes from Manila next month, with a switch from ATR turboprop aircraft to Airbus jets.

Effective 4 July 2017, flights between Manila and Cauayan, Legazpi and Virac will be operated using 180-seat Airbus A320s, translating to 131% more capacity compared to the 78-seat ATR 72-600s.

“Utilising larger aircraft will not only help meet demand for passenger air travel and logistics to move cargo across the country, but also allow more travellers to avail our year-round lowest fares,” said Atty JR Mantaring, Cebu Pacific’s vice president for corporate affairs.

The ATR aircraft freed up from these three routes will then be deployed on five new inter-island routes recently announced by Cebgo, Cebu Pacific’s domestic subsidiary. These include Cebu-Masbate, Cagayan de Oro-Zamboanga, Davao-Dumaguete, Davao-Tacloban and Cotabato-Zamboanga, and all five routes are due to start operating late next month.

In addition, Cebu Pacific will raise the frequency of some other flights from Manila on 4 July. An additional 10 weekly flights would be mounted between Manila and Iloilo, while the Manila-Bacolod route will see six more flights, and eight additional weekly flights will be made available between Manila and Cagayan de Oro.

Only last week, Cebu Pacific announced plans to deploy a 436-seat A330 on its routes from Cebu and Davao to Hong Kong.