Cebu Pacific, the Philippines’ largest airline, has launched 4 new domestic routes. The new routes and their frequencies are:

Cebu – Coron (Busuanga): 3 flights per week
Davao – Butua: 4 flights per week
Davao – Dipolog: 4 flights per week
Iloilo – Tacloban: 3 flights per week

“We are very pleased to expand our Philippine network, especially since these direct flights will boost travel, tourism and trade in different regions of the country. With its trademark low fares and seat sales, Cebu Pacific will continue to enable even more Juans to travel by air to reach their destinations,” said CEB VP for Marketing and Distribution Candice Iyog.

“With the delivery of over 50 brand-new aircraft until 2021, Cebu Pacific will continue to explore opening more routes, launching more destinations and adding more flights. CEB remains committed in making travel convenient and more affordable through the most extensive route network in the Philippines,” she added.

Ticketing for the new routes is available online at www.cebupacificair.com.

Cebu Pacific, the Philippines’ largest flag carrier, has announced it will offer WiFi on its long-haul flights starting in 2013. It will be the first low-cost carrier in Asia to offer this service.

Cebu Pacific passengers will be able to access the Internet during flights and make calls using Voice Over IP applications, using their Wi-Fi enabled personal electronic devices, such as Android™ phones and tablets, iPhone®, iPad®, BlackBerry®, and laptops.

OnAir WiFI service will initially be available on the airline’s A330 aircraft used for long-haul flights to the Middle East, Australia, Europe, and USA starting in the third quarter of 2013. Stage two will be to install WiFi on the A320 aircraft used for short-haul flights.

Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific’s VP for Marketing and Distribution, said: “Cebu Pacific has a highly social community of over 600,000 likes on Facebook and over 380,000 Twitter followers. We are very happy to provide our guests with the convenience of online connectivity while in-flight. CEB can now engage passengers through innovative web-based solutions that will further enhance their flying experience with us.”

Starting August 1, 2012, budget airline Cebu Pacific will offer direct flights from Davao – Kalibo and Davao – Puerto Princesa. The initial schedule will be four flights per week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Cebu Pacific is the Philippines’ largest and most affordable national flag carrier and will be the only airline to offer these routes.

“These routes will be launched just in time for Davao’s Kadayawan Festival in August. It will open up new markets from Palawan and Aklan, especially since fares to Davao and vice versa are now 55% lower with direct flights,” said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific’s VP for Marketing and Distribution.

“CEB’s extensive route network will also encourage Davao’s top tourist markets from the US, Japan, South Korea, China and ASEAN to proceed to Davao after visiting Palawan or Boracay. We believe in Davao’s potential for tourism, as the largest airline operating from this hub.”

Cebu Pacific, the Philippines based budget airline, began its new Manila – Hanoi service on March 17, 2012. This twice weekly service departs Manila at 10:30pm, and the return flight departs Hanoi at 1:00am.

“This inaugural flight marks a very important milestone for Cebu Pacific, as we become the only airline to operate direct flights between Manila and Hanoi. This reinforces our commitment to continue expanding CEB’s reach in the Asia-Pacific region, and promote air travel to destinations not previously easily accessible to our passengers,” said Cabu Pacific President and CEO Lance Gokongwei.

Cebu Pacific also operates daily flights between Manila and Ho Chi Minh City, and will soon launch new routes Manila-Xiamen and Kalibo-Hong Kong (March 23, 2012), and Manila-Siem Reap (April 19, 2012).

Cebu Pacific, the Philippines based budget airline, has announced it will commence long-haul flights in the 3rd quarter of 2013. The airline will lease up to 8 Airbus A330-300 aircraft to serve new markets beyond the range of their current fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft.

The Airbus A330 has a range of up to 11 hours which means Cebu Pacific could serve markets such as Australia, Middle East, parts of Europe and the US. The aircraft is one of the most commonly used wide-body aircraft in operation today, given its highly reliable operating statistics.

“The A330-300 will give us the lowest cost per seat, allowing us to drive long-haul fares 35% lower than those currently offered by other airlines, and as much as 80% lower when CEB offers promo fares. This aircraft type is very well suited to the kind of network we want to build and the routes we want to launch,” said Lance Gokongwei, CEB President and CEO.

“We are exploring serving cities where large Filipino communities reside — Europe, Middle East, Oceania and the USA. Data indicates that more than half of Filipinos deployed in these regions take multiple stops and connecting flights because no home carrier can fly them there non-stop,” added Gokongwei.

Gokongwei cited Saudi Arabia as an example, where only 165,000 passengers flew direct non-stop flights from Manila (Civil Aeronautics Board 2010 data), compared to 293,000 Filipinos deployed to Saudi Arabia in the same year. This means that nearly half of Filipinos who flew to Saudi Arabia in 2010 had to take multiple flights to get to their destination. With CEB’s long haul operations, the budget airline will provide more affordable, direct flight options to Filipinos overseas, a population estimated to be 11 million worldwide.

Since its inception in 1996, CEB has posted a good track record in stimulating short-haul travel of Filipinos working and residing overseas. Passenger traffic to and from Hong Kong, where a lot of Filipinos reside and work, grew by 88% since CEB started operating flights from Manila in 2001.

“We want to do the same for long-haul traffic — offer the lowest fares possible and drive a significant increase on demand for air travel to regions outside of Asia. This is truly an exciting time for CEB as we continue to be of service to the 11 million strong global Filipinos, wherever they are in the world; and to their families back home,” Gokongwei said.

“As CEB develops long-haul routes and opens new destinations for a Philippine flag carrier, we will be creating an important enabler for increased trade, tourism and foreign investment.”

The airline currently operates 10 Airbus A319, 19 Airbus A320 and 8 ATR-72 500 aircraft. Its fleet of 37 aircraft – with an average age of 3.6 years – is one of the youngest aircraft fleets in Asia. Between 2012 and 2021, Cebu Pacific will take an additional 23 Airbus A320 and 30 Airbus A321neo aircraft.

CEB operates the most extensive network in the Philippines with 34 domestic destinations and hubs in Manila, Cebu, Clark and Davao. It also offers 19 international destinations, namely Bangkok, Beijing, Brunei, Busan, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Incheon (Seoul), Jakarta, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Osaka, Shanghai, Siem Reap, Singapore, Taipei and Xiamen.