Airline News
Tigerair Philippines rebrands, PAL eyes A340 replacement
May 18th 2015
Tigerair Philippines, which was acquired by Philippine budget carrier Cebu Pacific Air (CEB) in March last year for $15 million, has been rebranded as Cebgo to better reflect the airline’s relationship with its parent company. Read More » Cebgo president and chief executive, Michael Ivan Shau, said: “The new Cebgo brand clearly identifies us as part of the Cebu Pacific group, and streamlines our operations further. Cebgo will continue to leverage CEB’s distribution channels and network, and work together to serve more guests.”
At press time, Cebgo operated 16 domestic and regional routes from Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Clark International Airport. The carrier said it would produce its first profit in 2015 as Cebu Pacific continues to reduce the carrier's costs, which are still not completely in line with the parent’s bottom line. Tigerair Philippines accounted for 5% of Cebu Pacific's $1.17 billion 2014 revenue. Together, the two carriers account for 60% of the Philippines’ domestic market share.
At flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), president Jaime Bautista said he was “in the process of preparing a long-term fleet plan for long-haul” after he completed plans for PAL’s domestic and regional fleet. PAL needs to find a replacement for its six fuel-inefficient A340-300s that currently ply the majority of its trans-Pacific routes. Bautista said the B787 and the A350 are under review, although other undisclosed sources have suggested PAL should add more B777-300ERs to its fleet of six because of the economies of scale the aircraft provided and its immediate availability from some airlines. India’s Jet Airways and Kenya Airways want to dispose of their relatively new -300ERs. Last week, PAL reported a first-quarter net profit of 3.8billion pesos ($85 million), up from a $20.7 million net loss in the year-ago period. It attributed the turnaround to an overall increase in passengers on its new international routes and an expansion of its domestic network.
