Cebu Pacific (5J) to launch A330 service to Australia

[davistev]

It has been a long time coming with many rumours of the discount carrier Cebu Pacific coming to Australia. Cebu Pacific announced last year the acquisition of a fleet of A330 long range aircraft to launch long distance low cost services from the Philippines but the airline never did confirm what destinations would be served.
Recently Cebu Pacific formally started selling seats to Dubai from Manila served by the A330s thereby confirming at least that destination.

Today, during a maintenance agreement signing ceremony in Hong Kong, Lance Gokongwei announced “When we launch long-haul operations, we intend to serve destinations where a large number of Filipinos reside, such as the Middle East and Australia,” said Cebu Pacific President and CEO Lance Gokongwei." see Cebu Pacific Selects HAECO For A330 Maintenance - Aviation News - etravelblackboard.com

Finally, we will have a low cost carrier landing in major Australian cities from the Philippines. However, the Air Services Agreement between Australia and the Philippines does have capacity controls. From
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/aviation/international/files/register_available_capacity_230113.pdf
PASSENGER CAPACITY
For services to/from Manila and Clark:
A total of 2073 seats per week in each direction.
An additional 1000 seats each way each week is available after the designated
airlines(s) of Australia or the Philippines have received approval to operate a minimum
of 3000 seats each way each week.
An additional 1000 seats each way each week is available after the designated
airlines(s) of Australia or the Philippines have received approval to operate a minimum
of 4000 seats each way each week.

For services to/from other international airports in the Philippines:
Unrestricted capacity and frequency of services with any aircraft type.

It seems that Cebu Pacific will have unlimited access to all Australian cities if they depart from cities other than Manila and Clark. If they exercise this option, my guess would be direct Cebu - Australia services. Otherwise, 5J will have to negotiate an increase in seat capacity on the Manila routes already served by QF and PH. I believe JetStar services out of Darwin do not have capacity restrictions under a regional development agreement.

Just for once, I hope Adelaide is considered as a future destination. I say this as Adelaide has a large Filipino population as well as being the only major city in Australia not served by any discount low cost international carrier. Otherwise, I can see Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast A330 service.

Lets hope!

 

[clifford]

Good luck to all that fly in her.

 

[jetlagger]

It has been a long time coming with many rumours of the discount carrier Cebu Pacific coming to Australia. Cebu Pacific announced last year the acquisition of a fleet of A330 long range aircraft to launch long distance low cost services from the Philippines but the airline never did confirm what destinations would be served.
Recently Cebu Pacific formally started selling seats to Dubai from Manila served by the A330s thereby confirming at least that destination.

Today, during a maintenance agreement signing ceremony in Hong Kong, Lance Gokongwei announced “When we launch long-haul operations, we intend to serve destinations where a large number of Filipinos reside, such as the Middle East and Australia,” said Cebu Pacific President and CEO Lance Gokongwei." see Cebu Pacific Selects HAECO For A330 Maintenance - Aviation News - etravelblackboard.com

Finally, we will have a low cost carrier landing in major Australian cities from the Philippines. However, the Air Services Agreement between Australia and the Philippines does have capacity controls. From
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/aviation/international/files/register_available_capacity_230113.pdf
PASSENGER CAPACITY
For services to/from Manila and Clark:
A total of 2073 seats per week in each direction.
An additional 1000 seats each way each week is available after the designated
airlines(s) of Australia or the Philippines have received approval to operate a minimum
of 3000 seats each way each week.
An additional 1000 seats each way each week is available after the designated
airlines(s) of Australia or the Philippines have received approval to operate a minimum
of 4000 seats each way each week.

For services to/from other international airports in the Philippines:
Unrestricted capacity and frequency of services with any aircraft type.

It seems that Cebu Pacific will have unlimited access to all Australian cities if they depart from cities other than Manila and Clark. If they exercise this option, my guess would be direct Cebu - Australia services. Otherwise, 5J will have to negotiate an increase in seat capacity on the Manila routes already served by QF and PH. I believe JetStar services out of Darwin do not have capacity restrictions under a regional development agreement.

Just for once, I hope Adelaide is considered as a future destination. I say this as Adelaide has a large Filipino population as well as being the only major city in Australia not served by any discount low cost international carrier. Otherwise, I can see Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast A330 service.

Lets hope!

Thanks for the sharing of information.

I'm Cautiously Optimistic with this announcement.

 

[soorox]

Well 5J have already applied for additional increases and wish to serve MEL & SYD only. They want SYD x3 weekly and MEL x2 weekly with their new A330 fleet.

 

[smit0847]

Adelaide has a large Filipino population as well as being the only major city in Australia not served by any discount low cost international carrier.

I lived there for 23 years..... never noticed!!

I think Air Asia X would do well with a daily from ADL - dont know why they havent done it in the past.

 

[haydensydney]

Thanks for sharing davistev!

 

[Mrmaxwell]

I have only recently noticed how expensive airfares are between the two countries - always a sign of no/minimal competition!!!

 

[markis10]

I have only recently noticed how expensive airfares are between the two countries - always a sign of no/minimal competition!!!

Apart from PR, Jetstar and QF.

 

[davistev]

And the Cebu Pacific Terminal in Manila is actually what was once supposed to be the new International Terminal built by a German company. The terminal operates all Cebu Pacific domestic and international flights out of one terminal so it is actually a fantastic terminal to do transfers. There is left luggage facilities, free carts, coffee shops, cheap fast food, ATM machines and plenty of taxis. This is in stark contrast to the old terminal Qantas and Jetstar flies into.

I have flown Cebu Pacific over 100 times and contrary to some reports, I have found them to be an excellent budget airline with reasonable prices for on board drinks and food, cheap advance seat allocations but horrible excess luggage fees if you do not purchase in advance.

5J has frequent sales to all Asian destinations but dirt cheap sale seats on some infrequent routes such as Xiamen, China (my favourite Chinese city).

 

[Melburnian1]

Cebu Pacific today announced a September 2014 start to Oz flights:

https://www.cebupacificair.com/about-us/Pages/news.aspx?id=948

At 436 seats, expect a very squeezy trip in a near new A330-300. Launch fares are cheap but beware the checked luggage fees as davistev noted above. At times, Philippine Airlines may be almost as cheap if it has a seat sale. Its planes are roomier as it isn't an LCC.

 

[jetlagger]

Cebu Pacific today announced a September 2014 start to Oz flights:

https://www.cebupacificair.com/about-us/Pages/news.aspx?id=948

At 436 seats, expect a very squeezy trip in a near new A330-300. Launch fares are cheap but beware the checked luggage fees as davistev noted above. At times, Philippine Airlines may be almost as cheap if it has a seat sale. Its planes are roomier as it isn't an LCC.

Interesting news about Cebu Pacific. I presume that they are retracting one of their under performing DXB aircraft for this trial route.
I do not envisage longevity as a profit performing route with a 436 seater as a high fuel burning long haul with such low margins.
Having extensive flight experiences with 5J on all domestic & international sectors, I have had my fair share of delays & cancellations & when there are better alternatives with similar overall pricing levels, I will & strongly suggest using the legacy carriers over this LCC for more than obvious reasoning.
Just my centavos worth.

 

[Melburnian1]

5J's CEO Lance Gokongwei claimed today that its MNL - DXB route was finally performing well and that it was achieving 80 per cent loadings. Of course he was silent on yields.

He said that 5J was targeting a similar load factor to Oz and aimed to make the route profitable within 18 months, but used 'eight months' as the typical period that passengers book in advance.

Apart from those who travel at Christmas or who are redeeming scarce as hens' teeth FF seats, I don't know anyone who books this far ahead ex Oz to SE Asia. Typically I book one to two months ahead, perhaps three to four if there's a super good sale on PR, SQ or MH.

 

[jetlagger]

5J's CEO Lance Gokongwei claimed today that its MNL - DXB route was finally performing well and that it was achieving 80 per cent loadings. Of course he was silent on yields.

He said that 5J was targeting a similar load factor to Oz and aimed to make the route profitable within 18 months, but used 'eight months' as the typical period that passengers book in advance.

Apart from those who travel at Christmas or who are redeeming scarce as hens' teeth FF seats, I don't know anyone who books this far ahead ex Oz to SE Asia. Typically I book one to two months ahead, perhaps three to four if there's a super good sale on PR, SQ or MH.

Guess it would be easy to apparently achieve 80% loadings on PHP 6K MNL/DXB tickets, though as realism I know they are yet to yield any profit due to the competition of long established OFW contracted policies in play with the legacy carriers for this sector.
The last PR flight I had on MNL/AUH was around 35% load & 0 pax in PE.
Lance is very easy to talk up 5J performance values, though I usually 'discount" the interpretative figures by around 30%.
Much of 5J marketing ploy is a 'bait & switch" campaign enticing the average punter with 'cheap" lead in fares to stimulate travel to & for speculative destinations which are not evidently researched well for long term sustainability & profit.
Some destinations & ports have worked well for load factors, yet as is much of the Philippine carriers, they are operating on shoestring low margins with fixed costs in hard currency which provides a fragile operating environment, not least taking into account fierce competition, as other carriers with much deeper pockets jostle for a piece of the aviation pie.
I just feel that 5J is speculating on growth too soon without adequate infrastructure, training & at times questionable safety standards & lack of competent & qualified management, the fragility exposed on several encounters on a personal level.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

It’s not just the seat size that’s squeezed.
301 seats and 8 toilets on a Qantas A330-300.
377 seats and 8 toilets on an AirAsia X A330-300.
436 seats and 8 toilets on a Cebu Pacific A330-300.
489 or 497 seats and 17 toilets on an Emirates A380-800.

Hopefully they're well stocked with rubber bands and possibly handing out free incontinence pants at checkin in case of emergency.

A full flight would give each PAX around 6 minutes use. Maybe they'll add coin operated access to try and minimise use

 

[docjames]

I just feel that 5J is speculating on growth too soon without adequate infrastructure, training & at times questionable safety standards & lack of competent & qualified management, the fragility exposed on several encounters on a personal level.

Care to expand on this one?

Irrespective, not rushing to try them out.

 

[Melburnian1]

Today was the first day since Cebu Pacific launched what is initially its 4x weekly MNL - SYD - MNL flights that they more or less ran on time. RP-C3344 (A330) was the bird.