Cebu Pacific continues major domestic lead in 1st half

ASIA's third-largest low-cost carrier, Cebu Pacific (CEB) maintains its significant lead over other airlines when it comes to the number of domestic passengers carried in the 1st half of 2010, as per Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) figures.

CEB flew a total of 4,088,493 domestic passengers in the 1st half of 2010, which is 1.2 million more than Philippine Airlines' 2,882,102 domestic passengers.

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This translates to a year-on-year growth of 13 percent for CEB.

The airline first claimed the no. 1 domestic carrier spot last year when it captured up to 50 percent of the domestic market share. It remains the number one carrier in 2010, with 48.75 percent domestic market share according to CAB. It started operations only in 1996.

Because of this, CEB announced a 50 percent off seat sale to any of its 33 domestic and 16 international destinations from September 4-5, 2010 or until seats last, for travel from October 1 to November 30, 2010.

"We hope to carry even more passengers as we expect delivery of four more brand-new Airbus aircraft from October 2010 to January 2011. Twenty more brand-new Airbus aircraft will be delivered until 2014. We will use all these to add more frequencies, routes and flights to lower our fares even further and provide even more travel convenience to guests," said CEB VP for Marketing and Distribution Candice Iyog.

CEB operates an extensive network, including Boracay (Caticlan), Puerto Princesa, Dumaguete, Cebu, Davao and Bacolod, among others. It flies 30 direct domestic flights from Manila, 19 direct flights from Cebu, 5 direct flights from Davao, and 1 flight from Clark.

It also flies to Brunei, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Osaka, Seoul (Incheon), Jakarta, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh, Taipei, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur. The airline's Beijing service will be launched on September 5, 2010.

"We aim to fly 10 million Juans in 2010, and we are happy to see that we remain on track. We encourage guests to avail of this special 50 percent off seat sale, and we thank them for their continuous support," she added.

For bookings and inquiries, passengers can call the reservation hotlines (02) 7020-888 or (032) 230-8888, visit nearest travel agents, or go to www.cebupacificair.com or http://funtours.cebupacificair.com. The latest seat sale updates can be found at cebupacificair on Twitter and Facebook Fan Page.

The Philippines' largest national flag carrier, CEB operates the youngest aircraft fleet in the country, with 21 Airbus and 8 ATR 72-500 aircraft. It has flown over 45 million passengers since its inception in 1996.