Cebu Pacific buys two A330-300

MANILA, Philippines - Cebu Pacific is acquiring two A330-300 aircraft from Airbus for over $500 million.

Cebu Air Inc., the operator of the budget airline said in a disclosure yesterday, it has signed a purchase agreement with Airbus SAS for the order of two A330-300 aircraft.

“Based on Airbus list prices as of January 2016, this purchase is valued at $512.8 million,” it said.

Cebu Pacific expects to take delivery of the new aircraft within December 2016 and May 2017.

The A330-300 could be used for long-haul routes.

Cebu Pacific currently has flights to long-haul destinations such as Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Doha in Qatar, Dubai in United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Sydney in Australia.

Earlier, Cebu Pacific president and CEO Lance Gokongwei said the carrier is interested to launch flights to Honolulu in Hawaii to cater to Filipinos there.

At present, the airline has a total of 57 aircraft in its fleet composed of seven Airbus A319s, 36 Airbus A320s, six Airbus A330s, and eight ATR 72-500 aircraft.

Cebu Pacific is increasing its fleet to support expansion plans.

From this year until 2021, the carrier expects to take delivery of 32 Airbus 321neos and 16 ATR 72-600 aircraft.

Apart from the purchase of new aircraft, Cebu Pacific also announced it would be launching direct flights from Kalibo in Aklan to Incheon in South Korea by Oct. 1.

The new flights would utilize the180-seater Airbus A320 aircraft and be available every day.

It will depart Kalibo at 1:50 a.m. and arrive in Incheon at 7:10 a.m., while the return flight will leave Incheon at 7:55 a.m. and be in Kalibo at 11:15 a.m. on the same day.

To introduce the new route, Cebu Pacific is offering a seat sale for as low as P1,999 for Kalibo – Incheon flights for travel dates Oct. 1, 2016 until March 15, 2017.

Those who wish to take advantage of the promo fare which includes taxes and fees, may book their flights now until July 31, or until seats last.

Cebu Pacific has flights to 36 domestic destinations, as well as 30 international destinations in Asia, Australia, the Middle East and US.