Cebu Air, Inc.

, operating as Cebu Pacific Air, is based on the grounds of Ninoy Aquino

International Airport (Manila Terminal 3), Pasay City, Metro Manila, the Philippines.[1] It offers
scheduled flights to both domestic and international destinations. Cebu Pacific Air is currently
the country's leading domestic carrier, serving the most domestic destinations with the largest
number flights and routes, and equipped with the youngest fleet. Its main base is Ninoy Aquino
International Airport, Manila, with other hubs at Mactan-Cebu International Airport, Francisco
Bangoy International Airport[2] and Diosdado Macapagal International Airport.[3]

The airline is a subsidiary of JG Summit Holdings, controlled by the Gokongwei family - one of
the richest Filipino-Chinese families based in the Philippines. Cebu Pacific is currently headed
by Lance Gokongwei, presumptive heir of John Gokongwei, the chairman emeritus of JG
Summit. The company has 1,182 employees (as of March 2007).[2] In October 2010, the airline
completed an IPO of 30.4% of outstanding shares.[4]

Contents
[hide]

• 1 History
• 2 Destinations
• 3 Fleet
o 3.1 Current
o 3.2 Retired
• 4 Partnerships
• 5 Incidents and accidents
• 6 EU aviation blacklist
• 7 References

• 8 External links

[edit] History

One of Cebu Pacific's Airbus A320-200 at Legazpi Airport.

Ceb, Cebu Pacific's Mascot

The airline was established on August 26, 1988, and started operations on March 8, 1996. It was
founded as Cebu Air, and subsequently acquired by JG Summit Holdings (owned by John
Gokongwei). Domestic services commenced following market deregulation by the Philippine
government. It temporarily ceased operations in February 1998 after being grounded by the
government due to an accident, but resumed services later the next month following re-
certification of its aircraft.[2] It initially started with 24 domestic flights daily among Metro
Manila, Metro Cebu and Davao City. By the end of 2001, its operations had grown to about 80
daily flights to 18 domestic destinations.

In the 2000s, Cebu Pacific was granted rights to operate international flights to the region,
including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Guam.
International flights were launched on November 22, 2001, with a twice-daily service to Hong
Kong.[5] On March 1, 2002, it commenced thrice-weekly flights to Seoul.[6] Other regional flights
were introduced and suspended later; however, including flights to Singapore (from November 6,
2002, to January 2003) and from Manila via Subic to Seoul (from December 2002) due in part to
the effects of the SARS epidemic.[7]

The airline resumed its Manila-to-Singapore flights on August 31, 2006[8] and launched its direct
flight from Cebu to Singapore on October 23, 2006, the first low-cost airline to serve the Cebu-
Singapore-Cebu sector,[9] and in direct competition with Singapore Airlines' subsidiary SilkAir,
CEB is now the only Philippine carrier serving the Cebu-Singapore-Cebu route after PAL
terminated its direct service. The airline operates direct flights from Cebu to Hong Kong which
commenced October 2, 2006, which also made CEB the only Philippine carrier to serve a Cebu-
Hong Kong-Cebu route after PAL terminated its direct service and is now code-sharing with
Cathay Pacific for this route.[10]

In May 2005, Cebu Pacific received two Airbus A320 aircraft on lease from CIT Leasing and
operated its first service with the new aircraft on June 3, 2005, from Manila to Davao City.

In December 2006, after a month or two of operating the new direct flights, Cebu Pacific
announced that it would increase flight frequency for its Cebu-Hong Kong-Cebu from four to
five times weekly and Cebu-Singapore-Cebu flights from four to six weekly effective January
25, 2007. As of January 2008, it operates regional flights to Busan, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Seoul-Incheon, Taipei and Bangkok beginning April 6, 2008 from its Cebu hub; and Bangkok,
Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Singapore, Taipei, Seoul-Incheon,
Shanghai and Xiamen from Manila.
Cebu Pacific's plans to begin international flights from Angeles-Clark Diosdado Macapagal
International Airport (DMIA) were initially unsuccessful when its request was denied. The
nations involved came to an agreement that Cebu Pacific would be only allowed to operate
charter flights from Clark to the respective countries' airport(s). Only Singapore initially agreed
to allow Cebu Pacific to fly scheduled flights from Diosdado Macapagal International Airport to
Singapore.[11] Currently Cebu Pacific only operates a route from Diosdado Macapagal
International Airport to Cebu, but has since announced that it will be commencing international
flights from Manila- Clark to Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore from November 2008 as well as
domestic flights from Manila-Clark to Cebu.[12]

One of Cebu Pacific's ATR-72 aircraft at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

In June 2007, Cebu Pacific announced an order of up to 14 brand-new ATR-72-500 aircraft, with
six firm orders and eight options. It plans to initially offer flights to Boracay, using Boracay's
Godofredo P. Ramos Airport.[13]

On November 12, 2007, Cebu Pacific announced Davao's Francisco Bangoy International
Airport as its fourth hub. Cebu Pacific announced that it would initially fly internationally from
Davao to Singapore, Hong Kong and fly one domestic flight to Iloilo. Both direct services from
Davao to Singapore and Iloilo commenced on May 8, 2008, while the service to Hong Kong
commenced on May 9, 2008.[14]

In late 2007, Cebu Pacific mentioned that it is aiming to cross the Pacific and launch non-stop
flights to the United States West Coast, Houston, Texas and Chicago, Illinois by mid-2009.[15]

On December 18, 2007, Cebu Pacific announced that it would exercise options on its recent
ATR-72-500 turboprop order (initially six firm) to increase its firm order to 10.[16]

On February 19, 2008, Cebu Pacific Air received its first brand-new ATR 72-500 from
Toulouse, France and expected to take delivery of another five ATRs from March to December
2008.[17] The initial two ATRs fly on routes such as Cebu to Bacolod.

Cebu Pacific took delivery of its 16th brand-new, 179-seater Airbus A320 aircraft, from
Toulouse, France, on March 20, 2008. The new aircraft supports CEB's expanding international
and domestic operations which include flights to 12, soon to be 15, international destinations.[18]
On May 28, 2008, Cebu Pacific was named as the world's number one airline in terms of growth.
The airline was also ranked fifth in Asia for Budget Airline passengers transported and 23rd in
the world. The airline carried a total of almost 5.5 million passengers in 2007, up 57.4 per cent
from 2006[19]

On July 22, 2008, Cebu Pacific was the first airline to use the new Terminal 3 of the Ninoy
Aquino International Airport with its flight to Caticlan being the first to depart at 0515 local
time. On August 1, 2008, it moved its international operations to the terminal; thus, becoming
the first airline to have regular international commercial flights from the new terminal.

In August 2009, Cebu Pacific became the first airline in the Philippines to use social media.
Their Twitter account is @CebuPacificAir.[20]

In September 2010, a video surfaced on the popular video sharing website Youtube which
showed three female flight attendants dancing along to two popular pop songs (Just Dance by
Lady Gaga and California Gurls by Katy Perry) as they performed the safety demonstration. The
video subsequently became a viral video.[21]

On January 6, 2011, Cebu Pacific flew its 50 millionth passenger from Manila to Beijing. The
airline targets to reach the 100 million passengers mark in 2015.[22]

[edit] Destinations
Cebu Pacific flies to 33 domestic destinations, and to 16 international destinations in 10
countries.

Main article: Cebu Pacific destinations

[edit] Fleet

One of Cebu Pacific's Airbus A319 landing at Tagbilaran City.

In April 2005, Cebu Pacific signed a joint-venture agreement with SIA Engineering Company
for the maintenance of the Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft. The new company, called Aviation
Partnership (Philippines) Corporation, is co-owned by SIA Engineering Ltd and Cebu Pacific.

In March 2007, Cebu Pacific announced an order of 10 Airbus A320s, plus 10 options. The firm
orders are for delivery from 2010 to 2012, while the options are for delivery from 2011 to 2013.
In order to bridge the gap from now until the first delivery in 2010, CEB will be taking short- to
medium-term leases on Airbus A320 aircraft. 4 will be leased in 2008, with a further three to
four being leased in 2009.

On 18 December 2008, Cebu Pacific announced that they have ordered an additional four ATR-
72-500 turboprop aircraft. This order increases their order of ATR-72 aircraft from 6 firm plus 8
options to 10 firm plus 8 options.[16]

On 16 June 2009 at the Paris Airshow, Airbus announced that Cebu Pacific had increased its
outstanding A320 orders to 15 with a new firm order for 5 aircraft. The additional planes are
scheduled for delivery starting 2013.[23] Cebu Air Inc. said on April 20, 2010 it would purchase
an additional 7 Airbus A320s, bringing to 22 its pending orders from European manufacturer
Airbus, a unit of EADS.