Cebu Air inks five-year aircraft maintenance deal

Cebu Air Inc. disclosed Friday that it has contracted SIA Engineering Co. Ltd.’s (SIAEC) services for the maintenance of both its present aircraft and the new fleet of A320 planes to be delivered over the next five years.

“The next five years will be an exciting time for the airline. We will continue to grow our fleet and widen our network. We look forward to SIAEC’s extensive and highly efficient aircraft maintenance services,” Cebu Air chief executive Lance Y. Gokongwei said in the statement sent to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Under the agreement, SIAEC will provide Cebu Air with a wide range of fleet management and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, which will be performed in Singapore and at SIAEC’s facilities in the Philippines.

The five-year contract covers the growing fleet of Cebu Air, which will see its current fleet of 30 A320/A319 aircraft grow by an additional 22 A320 aircraft to be delivered over the next five years.

SIAEC has separately announced that with the latest signing, the total revenue of SIAEC Group contracts with Cebu Air would grow to S$236 million.

SIAEC chief executive William Tan said in a statement posted on SIAEC’s website that the new agreement further strengthened the strong synergies and excellent relationship between SIAEC and Cebu Air since the signing of the first fleet management contract between the companies in 2005.

Both companies have worked in close partnership to uphold the engineering excellence and high dispatch reliability of the airline, Tan said.

“With three decades of experience in servicing a wide range of Airbus aircraft, including being the first in the world to undertake heavy maintenance of the A380, our customers are assured of high quality and on time delivery for the Airbus aircraft entrusted to us,” Tan added.