5J drops B777 deal in favor of brand new A330

Cebu Pacific to add Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Bandar Seri Begawan this year!
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Manila - Low cost airline Cebu Pacific, JG Summit Holdings (PSE), intends to convert its remaining A320 orders from Toulouse based aircraft manufacturer Airbus, to new generation A330-300 planes after receiving offers from the France based aircraft manufacturer.

Currently, the airline has 10 pending orders for A320 series 200 planes for delivery until 2014, and inside sources said they may opt to convert as high as 8 narrow-body orders for 4 medium ranged airliners. Plans however calls for 2 outright lease and 2 wide-body purchases against 4 A320 orders. The brand new A330 will be made available before the end of the year from an aircraft leasing firm whose order was not taken by another airline company.

The next generation A330-300 offered by Airbus is similar to the ones delivered to Finnair powered with more fuel efficient General Electric CF6-80E1 engines but left to the airline its engine of choice, as it manifested to make flight runs between the Middle East, Australia, and Japan.

The Gokongwei led airline is set to make announcement soon after approval by its holding company. Cebu Pacific has already filed a petition before the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to mount flights to 3 major cities in Australia and Brunei following the conclusion of air service agreements with the two countries. It also filed applications to fly Dubai, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi in the Middle East.

"We’re very interested to operate flights to Brunei and Australia. We’ve been asking for entitlements so that we can offer low fares for these markets," Candice A. Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice-president for marketing, said.

The airline will utilize initially the Airbus 320 aircraft on the route down under with fuel stop in Darwin, Australia. Cebu Pacific sought 540 seat entitlements for a thrice-weekly Manila to Sydney flight, 300 seat entitlements for a twice-weekly Manila to Melbourne flight, and 360 seat entitlements for a twice-weekly Manila to Brisbane flight. It also applied for a petition for "designation as official Philippine carrier to Brunei" since it intend to start daily flights to Brunei’s Bandar Seri Begawan airport.

The Air Service Agreement between Australia and the Philippines increased seat entitlements to 6,000 seats from 2,500, for flights between Manila and Clark to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Darwin and Perth. While flights between other regional airports in Australia and airports in the Philippines have no capacity or frequency restrictions.

Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines is set to fly Perth and reintroduce Brisbane to its international network next year.