Cebu Pacific (CEB), the Philippines’ largest domestic carrier, will use the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) for both domestic and international flights starting on August 1, 2008.
CEB started its domestic ATR operations at NAIA-3 last July 22, 2008.
Lance Gokongwei, CEB President and CEO, said, “NAIA-3’s opening is a welcome development for us especially since we have outgrown both the domestic passenger terminal and NAIA-1. As the country’s fastest growing airline, we are very pleased to be offering our passengers a much improved airport facility.”
CEB expects to carry seven million passengers this year compared to almost 5.5 million passengers last year. In 1996, when CEB first started its operations, the total number of people flying within the country stood at 4.67 million, in 2007, this has more than doubled and now stands over 10.4 million passengers.
NAIA-3 exceeds the amenities provided by the Domestic Terminal such as:
A spacious check-in area, with 28 state-of-the-art counters allocated to Cebu Pacific as compared to 22 counters at the cramped check-in section of the Domestic Terminal;
Nine boarding gates, from four;
CEB operates 33 routes through its 24 domestic destinations and currently operates 848 domestic flights per week. The airline also operates 19 international routes to 16 cities in Asia, offering 230 international flights per week.
“Now that we will be flying both domestic and international services under one roof, we will be able to see some operational efficiencies and offer our passengers an even better product,” Gokongwei emphasized.
Now in its 13th year, CEB has the youngest aircraft fleet in the Philippines, comprised of 10 A319s, eight A320s, and two ATR72-500 aircraft.