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5J To Add Moscow, Vladivostok in 2016

29 December 2015



Low cost airline Cebu Pacific Air (CEB) will take foray in Europe as it launches its first flights to Russia in 2016, as part of a major international expansion plan after the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) granted the airline series of new route entitlements to Russia, the Middle East and Taiwan.

CAB also approved CEB’s request to be designated as an official carrier under the ASEAN Multilateral Agreement on Air Services (MAAS) Monday last week.

As soon as the Philippines completes the ratification of the relevant protocols of the MAAS, CEB will be able to operate unlimited flights between capital cities within the ASEAN region.

“We sincerely thank and commend the members of the Civil Aeronautics Board for enabling… Cebu Pacific to expand operations to key international destinations,” said Atty JR Mantaring, Cebu Pacific’s vice president of corporate affairs last week.

The carrier was recently granted official Philippine carrier status to Russia by CAB, with permission to operate up to three weekly flights from Manila to Moscow and Vladivostok.

Cebu Pacific was also given permission to operate an additional seven flights weekly from Manila to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, on top of its existing daily flights to Dubai from the recent UAE - Philippines Air Service Agreement expansion.

The airline was also given permission to operate additional flights from various points in the Philippines to the Taiwanese cities of Taipei and Kaohshiung.

Cebu Pacific earlier requested for rights to operate direct flights to Taipei from Caticlan, Clark, Davao, Puerto Princesa, and Tagbilaran, as well as direct flights to Kaohshiung from Caticlan and Cebu.

The carrier is presently operating ten times weekly flights between Manila and Taipei, and thrice weekly flights between Cebu and Taipei.

“We’ve always maintained that traffic rights are valuable resources that must be rationally allocated to carriers that are willing and able to utilise and operate flights.” says Atty. Mantaring.

Mantaring disclosed that there are yet no confirmed schedules of the new routes to Russia, the UAE or Taiwan but said that they are being worked at and should be announced soon when additional aircraft joins their fleet.

Cebu Pacific recently launched new flights on 17 December serving Manila-Fukuoka, and Cebu-Taipei routes, while Davao-Singapore was relaunch by the airline.

CEB is expected to commence Manila-Guam service in March 15, 2016. Its planned A330-300 Manila-Honolulu and Manila-Melbourne service also slated for next year is bugged by congestion issues at Manila International Airport as it fails to secure favorable landing gates at the requested time slots.

The airline will take delivery of 5 more brand-new Airbus A320, 30 Airbus A321neo, and 16 ATR 72-600 aircraft between 2016 and 2021.

Meanwhile, CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla said the aviation regulator had also allocated five frequency entitlements to Philippine Airlines (PAL) for five-times weekly flights between Manila and Moscow, three times weekly between Manila and Khabarovsk and four times weekly between Cebu and Khabarovsk.

PAL currently flies Manila-Vladsvostok and Kalibo-Valadivostok charter flights over the last two years which helped bring in 40,000 Russian tourists in 2014. Russia is a high-yielding tourist markets for the Philippine, with $1,000 spending per visitor.

4 comments:

  1. Good news fro. mr.hongkong....he will be the first one in check-in counter off to moscow on ceb pac flight.

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  2. Nasa probensya si mr.hk napilitan sumakay ng cebu pacific dahil fully booked ang pal.enjoy sya sa serbisyo ng cebu air at fly daw sya uli ng cebu pacific.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Who is Mr. Hongkong?

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  4. Correction: PAL flies Kalibo-Khabarovsk, not Kalibo-Vladivostok.

    ReplyDelete