Cebu Air to Serve Middle East on AirAsia Threat: Southeast Asia
22 Oct 2012 20:41:06
bloomberg.com
Cebu Air Inc. (CEB), the Philippines' biggest budget carrier, plans to get 33 percent of sales from long-haul flights within five years as AirAsia Bhd. and Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd. challenge its grip on the domestic market.
The airline, which operates as Cebu Pacific, will begin the push in the second half of 2013 by adding flights to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, President Lance Gokongwei said in an interview yesterday in Manila. It will target the more than 3 million Filipino nurses, maids and other workers employed in the Middle East, who generally fly there via Singapore or Hong Kong.
Enlarge image
Passengers board a Cebu Air Inc. airplane in Legaspi City, the Philippines. Photographer: Edwin Tuyay/Bloomberg
"œOur key project next year is the long-haul expansion," Gokongwei said. Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA) and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. "œwill be my main competitors" on Middle East routes as no Philippine carriers fly them, he said.
Cebu Air intends to get 25 percent of the 50 billion peso ($1.2 billion) Philippine-Middle East market by 2015, Gokongwei said. The carrier has also said it may fly to Australia, the U.S. and Europe as its 45 percent share on domestic routes is threatened by Philippine Airlines Inc. and low-cost carriers.
Read full story: bloomberg.com
