Cebu Pacific sends 9 aircraft to Australian desert for indefinite storage

Budget carrier Cebu Pacific has sent nine aircraft in its fleet to a storage facility in an Australian desert as part of cost-cutting measures due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation sector.

In a virtual press chat on Friday, Cebu Pacific vice president for Marketing & Distribution Candice Iyog told reporters that the Gokongwei-led airline sent planes to Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage (APAS) at the Alice Springs Airport in Australia.

“This is a facility that stores aircraft. We need to ensure that it's stored in a facility that’s really equipped,” Iyog said.

So far, Cebu Pacific has sent nine aircraft for indefinite storage at the APAS as “part of cost mitigation measures.”

These are seven Airbus A321CEOs and two A330s.

The low-cost carrier is looking to put more aircraft on indefinite storage but this is still under study given volatility in market demand and travel restrictions.

“Once the demand is back we can easily bring back aircraft into the line,” Iyog said.

However, she said that it is still hard to determine when it can utilize the stored aircraft since “we have no basis to make a forecast.”

“We put some room so that once the demand is back, we can address the demand,” she said.

Cebu Pacific is so far utilizing about 50% of its fleet on rotation basis to serve between 40 to 50 flights daily, roughly representing 10% of its pre-COVID-19 network, which peaks at about 420 flights per day.—AOL, GMA News