THE budget carrier of taipan John L. Gokongwei seeks to carve out a small portion of the flight entitlements to Haneda in Japan, as it seeks to further expand its operations in the wealthy North Asian economy.
In a regulatory filing, Cebu Pacific said it is seeking the approval of the Civil Aeronautics Board for the reallocation of the Manila-Haneda entitlements, all of which are currently allotted to flag carrier Philippine Airlines.
The dominant budget carrier expressed interest in launching thrice weekly flights to Haneda, as the Tan-led competitor is only utilizing 11 coefficients of the 14 weekly flights allocated to Filipino carriers.
Haneda, also known as Tokyo International Airport, is one of the two premier airports servicing the Greater Tokyo Area. It is considered the world’s most slot-restrictive airport and a prime business hub.
The airport, which is around 30 minutes away from the Tokyo metropolis, has one domestic and two international passenger terminals and connects conveniently to the Tokyo monorail.
Cebu Pacific operates flights out of Manila to Narita, Nagoya and Osaka in Japan. It also has flights to the hubs of the $5-trillion economy out of Cebu.
Aside from these routes, the dominant budget carrier offers flights to 28 international destinations, namely Bali, Bangkok, Beijing, Brunei Darussalam, 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.
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.