Air travel is showing sustained recovery with rising passenger traffic, ironically against a backdrop of staff shortages. In the Philippines, domestic carriers are increasing the number of flights and using bigger airplanes.
The Gokongwei-led air carrier Cebu Pacific upgraded its flights to Tacloban, Dumaguete, and Butuan using the bigger A320NEO, to better serve the higher passenger demand amid relaxed restrictions.
“We recently added more seats using our new A320neo as we see increasing demand. This upgrade will accommodate more passengers and carry more cargo,” said Xander Lao, chief commercial officer at Cebu Pacific.
“We are the airline that serves these three destinations the most, encouraging trade and tourism in the Visayas and Mindanao.”
The A320NEO — an environmentally friendly aircraft with less fuel emission and reduced noise — has 188 seats equipped with USB ports allowing passengers to charge their mobile devices inflight.
CEB currently flies up to six times daily between Manila and Tacloban. For the Cebu-Tacloban route, CEB flies twice daily every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and three times daily every Monday and Friday.
The airline has also started utilizing the A320NEO aircraft for Dumaguete and Butuan. It currently flies four times daily between Manila and Dumaguete. The airline flies daily between Cebu and Dumaguete every Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday and twice daily every Monday, Thursday and Friday.
CEB flies six times daily between Manila and Butuan. For the Cebu-Butuan route, CEB operates twice daily every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; and three times daily every Wednesday and Sunday.
Cebu Pacific operates the broadest domestic network in the Philippines, covering 34 destinations on top of 18 international destinations.
Its 78-strong fleet, one of the youngest in the world, includes two dedicated ATR freighters. It aims to have an all-NEO, environmentally efficient fleet by 2027.
Data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showed that the global revenue passenger kilometers climbed by 76.2 percent in June.
According to the IATA, the Asia-Pacific markets are recording the highest growth the best numbers, with a staggering 429 percent uptick in June, while capacity rose 139 percent and load factors were boosted by 46 percentage points to almost 77 percent.
On Friday, flag carrier Philippine Airlines Inc. reported its first profit in six years, with P58.1 billion in revenues during the year’s first half showing a solid recovery after the Covid pandemic disruptions.