Cebu Pacific selling old planes to Vegas airline

Budget carrier Cebu Pacific is discarding nearly a third of its fleet and replacing its old planes with bigger and more efficient aircraft, as the airline continues to find ways to cut costs.

In a disclosure, Cebu Pacific operator Cebu Air Inc. said it would sell 10 of its 150-seater Airbus A319 aircraft to Nasdaq-listed Allegiant Travel, a low-cost airline based in Las Vegas.

The A319s are the oldest and smallest planes in Cebu Pacific’s fleet. The airline also operates eight ATR turbo propeller planes that are used mainly for inter-island flights.

“While they (the A319s) have served us well for the last six years as we have grown our business and developed new markets, the time is right to trade up to bigger, brand-new Airbus A320 aircraft,” Cebu Air president and CEO Lance Gokongwei told the bourse.

Airbus A320 planes seat 180 people each with Cebu Pacific’s single-class cabin configuration. These planes make up the bulk of Cebu Pacific’s fleet of 38 planes.

Between now and 2014, Cebu Pacific will be taking delivery of 15 brand-new Airbus A320. The company is also taking delivery of four Airbus A330s that will allow the airline to mount long-haul flights. Cebu Pacific said it was planning to mount flights to points in the United States, the Middle East, Europe and Australia.

Gokongwei said the airline was also exploring options to advance the delivery of Airbus A320 orders scheduled for delivery between 2015 and 2016.