CEBU PACIFIC AIR (CEB), along with its wholly-owned subsidiary Cebgo, is opening plans to open more connectivity - domestic and foreign - in Davao City.

Cebgo president and chief executive officer Alexander Lao shared that Davao, together with Cebu and Clark hubs, are identified as the airlines' expansion areas.

“We continue to study operations in Davao. If we take a look at the concentration of flights in Davao, it is quite big,” he told reporters Thursday after the welcome ceremony of the airline's new fleet member Airbus A321neo at Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

For instance, he said, CEB now uses wide-body aircraft into Davao which they don't normally do years back.

“There is presently a strong demand from Davao in terms of both passengers and cargo,” Lao added.

In recent years, CEB launched direct flights from Davao to Clark, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Tacloban, and Bacolod.

CEB has also maintained and increased its flight frequencies from Davao to Manila, Cebu, and Singapore.

Meanhwile, CEB president Lance Gokongwei has announced Thursday, January 31, that it will improve cargo operation by dedicating two turbo prop planes to carry cargo.

Alex Reyes, Cebu Pacific vice president for cargo services, in a separate interview bared that the first ATR 72-500 is expected to arrive in March 2019.

He added that this direction was after the increasing demand of cargo services in the country especially with the onset of e-commerce.

However, he said cargo comprises only some 10 percent of the total revenue of Cebu Pacific.