LOW-COST carrier Cebu Pacific is expanding its capacity in 2015 with the delivery of five new aircraft, including a super jumbo jet that is usually used for long-haul operations.
In a document obtained from the budget carrier, the airline of tycoon John L. Gokongwei said it will take delivery of four Airbus A320s and an A330 next year.
This brings the airline’s fleet to about 57 by end-2015 from 52 this year.
By 2016 the fleet of the carrier would have reached to 59 with the addition of three A320s. An aircraft will be returned after being on lease for several years, the document showed.
Cebu Pacific also plans to add three more aircraft, two A320s and a larger A321neo, in 2017. Two planes will be returned to Airbus that year.
“We currently have 52 aircraft, and total remaining order book of nine A320s, 30 A321neo and an A330 on operating lease, with seven A320s for lease returns,” the carrier said.
The massive refleeting program of Cebu Pacific has a price tag of roughly $4 billion.
The additional aircraft will be used for the airline’s route expansion program, which include the Middle East and US territories, such as Hawaii and Guam.
“The Airbus A320s may be deployed to our new short haul routes announced recently—Cebu to Narita and Cebu-Taipei in March 2015. As for the Airbus A330, we will deploy the aircraft on the Manila-Hong Kong route, after the successful air talks in October. We are looking to add frequencies in the Middle East and the US, pending regulatory approvals,” Cebu Pacific Vice President Jorenz T. Tanada replied, when sought for comment.
Currently, the airline of JG Summit Holdings Inc. has one of the youngest fleets in the region, with an average age of 4.29 years.
The airline’s 52-strong fleet is comprised of 10 Airbus A319, 29 Airbus A320, five Airbus A330 and eight ATR-72 500 aircraft. Between 2015 and 2021, Cebu Pacific will take delivery of nine more brand-new Airbus A320, 30 Airbus A321neo, and one Airbus A330 aircraft.
The dominant budget carrier offers flights to 28 international destinations, namely Bali, Bangkok, Beijing, Brunei, Busan, Dammam, Dubai, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Incheon (Seoul), Jakarta, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Macau, Phuket, Riyadh, Shanghai, Siem Reap, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei and Xiamen, Narita, Nagoya and Osaka.
It also operates the most extensive network in the Philippines.
Cebu Air Inc. posted a net loss of P1.1 billion in the third quarter of 2014, significantly higher than the P750.1-million loss in the same three-month period the year prior.
Total revenues increased by 32.4 percent annually to P11.7 billion in the third quarter of the year, as passenger revenues surged by 34.2 percent to P8.9 billion and ancillary revenues rose 27.9 percent to P2 billion.
Expenses grew to P11 billion from P9.5 billion, resulting in the widened losses in the third quarter.
However, its bottom line expanded by more than 213 percent to P2.1 billion in the first nine months of 2014 from P664.1 million in 2013.
In the same comparative periods, revenues rose by 25.7 percent to P38.4 billion from P30.6 billion, while expenses surged by a slower 25.3 percent to P35.6 billion from P28.4 billion.
Shares of Cebu Air shed 55 centavos or 1 percent to close at P71.95 apiece on Thursday.