Cebu Pacific completes fleet of new, roomy A321ceos

Cebu Pacific, the country’s largest budget airline, has expanded its fleet further with the complete delivery of brand-new medium-range A321ceos.

The airline announced on Wednesday the delivery of the last of seven A321ceos, which stands for current engine option. The planes have a list price of $812 million, it said.

The delivery brings the fleet of Cebu Pacific, which is part of the Gokongwei family’s JG Summit Holdings, to 71 planes by the end of 2018.

It said the A321ceos were configured with 230 seats, which were designed by German seat manufacturer Recaro. The seats come with USB ports and more legroom, Cebu Pacific said in its statement.

Thus far, Cebu Pacific has 36 Airbus A320s, seven Airbus A321ceos, eight Airbus A330s, eight ATR 72-500s, and 12 ATR 72-600 aircraft. The ATR aircraft are used by its subsidiary, Cebgo.

The budget carrier is also expanding with an ongoing pipeline of aircraft deliveries through 2022.

Starting 2019, it will receive five Airbus A320neos (new engine option), acquired through an operating lease agreement signed with Avolon Aerospace Leasing Ltd., one of the largest aircraft leasing companies in the world.

It is also expecting 32 Airbus A321neo aircraft and four ATR 72-600 aircraft.

Deliveries of these aircraft would commence in the first half of 2019 and would be completed within the same year, Cebu Pacific said.

It noted the average age of its planes stood at 5.1 years, one of the youngest in the world.

The expansion push comes as global trends in the airline industry remain favorable on the back of upbeat economic growth and easing oil prices, according to a report from the International Air Transport Association (Iata) earlier this month.

For Asia-Pacific alone, airlines are forecast to post a net income of $10.4 billion in 2019, up from $9.6 billion this year.

Globally, the airline industry was expected to post a profit of $35.5 billion in 2019, Iata said.

“This will mark the 10th consecutive year of profit—a feat that has not been observed previously in the history of the industry,” Iata noted.