Cebu Pacific cuts three Middle East routes

Cebu Pacific Air has confirmed that it will suspend flights on three routes between the Philippines and the Middle East.

In the next few weeks, the low-cost carrier will terminate its services to Riyadh, Kuwait City and Doha. The Manila-Kuwait service will be the first to go following the final flight on 14 June. This will be followed by the last Manila-Doha service on 1 July and the final Manila-Riyadh flight on 3 July.

The airline blamed strong competition for the suspension of the three routes.

“The entry of Cebu Pacific into these markets benefitted passengers with lower fares and more choices. Of late, other carriers have aggressively added more flights, which has resulted in substantial oversupply of seats and fares that are so low, hence making the routes unsustainable,” said Atty JR Mantaring, Cebu Pacific’s vice president for corporate affairs.

“We have to continuously review our routes to ensure their viability. At this point, it makes more sense for us to redeploy the aircraft used for our Riyadh, Doha and Kuwait service to routes where we can further stimulate demand and sustain our low fare offers.”

CEB will retain its services to Dubai, along with flights to 25 other international destinations.