Cebu Pacific all set for flights to Xiamen
Budget carrier Cebu Pacific has announced plans to launch flights to the booming city of Xiamen in southeast China.
In a statement, the Gokongwei-led carrier said it would start flights between Manila and Xiamen by March 23, 2012, marking its fourth destination in mainland China after Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.
The flights to Xiamen, the Gokongwei family’s hometown, will be a thrice weekly service, utilizing one of Cebu Pacific’s brand-new Airbus A320 jets. This will be Cebu Pacific’s 18th international flight.
“Cebu Pacific looks forward to expanding its network in China, especially with Xiamen and Fujian province being the well-known hometown of about 85 percent of Filipino-Chinese in the Philippines, including the Gokongweis,” Cebu Pacific vice-president for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog said.
“We hope Cebu Pacific’s thrice-weekly flights to Xiamen will boost trade tremendously between China and the Philippines,” she added.
Xiamen is a highly industrialized city in the Fujian province, on the southeastern coast of mainland China.
Aside from cities in the mainland, Cebu Pacific’s Greater China operations extend to daily flights from Manila to Taipei, up to six daily flights to Hong Kong from Manila, Clark and Cebu, and 11 weekly flights to Macau from Manila and Clark.
The company also announced that flights to Beijing would be increased to four times a week from the current thrice-weekly service starting January 7, 2012, to cope with growing demand.
“We flew 30 percent more passengers to mainland China in the third quarter of 2011, compared to the same period last year. CEB will continue to grow its China market with its trademark low fares and destination offerings, such as the island paradise of Boracay, Coron and Cebu,” Iyog said.
Cebu Pacific is currently the largest airline in the Philippines based on passenger numbers. For 2011, the company expects to serve 12 million guests.
