Cebu Pacific strengthens domestic network to support recovery efforts

Cebu Pacific (CEB), the Philippine’s leading carrier, is prepared to support a quick domestic recovery with its extensive domestic network and the continuous COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in the country.

The airline operates the widest network in the Philippines covering 32 destinations, on top of its six (6) international destinations. Starting today, June 21, CEB flights to Boracay will be five times daily, while flights to Bohol will also operate daily.

“We remain cautiously optimistic as we prepare for the bounce back and will do everything that is within our control to support and aid that,” said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and customer experience.

“With the arrival of more vaccines and the pace at which vaccines are being rolled out, we are hopeful that in due time our networks will recover to pre-pandemic levels.”

In its June 18 report, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said carriers operating conditions will continue to depend on its domestic travel market amid changing travel restrictions as nations work to inoculate their populations.

“Over the last months, the recovery of air passenger demand has been mainly driven by domestic markets that have mostly remained unaffected by travel restrictions. In the meantime, international travel was restricted by most countries and governments are only starting to relax those restrictions as they vaccinate their populations and stabilize the epidemiological situation,” the IATA said.

“Our expectation is that in the near future, airlines’ operating conditions will be determined by two factors: (1) the availability of domestic markets that they can rely on and (2) the progress in vaccinations in the main countries in their networks.”

The trade association also noted that carriers in the Asia Pacific and South American countries often have large domestic markets to rely on, but that vaccination rates remained slow.

CEB is the only airline among the Philippine companies that grouped together to help the government’s pandemic relief efforts under the banner of Ingat Angat. As of June 17, CEB has flown 6 million COVID-19 doses from China, on top of more than 1.4 million doses carried to 15 Philippine provinces.

CEB has been rated 7/7 stars by airlineratings.com for its COVID-19 safety compliance as it continues to implement a multi-layered approach to safety, in accordance with global aviation standards. These include contactless procedures, thorough cleaning and disinfection protocols for all aircraft and facilities, mandatory wearing of masks and face shields for both passengers and crew, as well as Antigen testing for CEB frontliners before duty.  On top of these, our aircraft are also equipped with hospital-grade HEPA filters with 99.99% efficacy, keeping viruses at bay.