Cebu Pacific: No job cuts, fleet reduction despite pandemic

Budget carrier Cebu Pacific on Thursday said it has no plans of reducing its workforce and its fleet despite the lingering COVID-19 pandemic as it looks forward to the recovery of air travel following the easing of quarantine restrictions.

“I can say that there are no retrenchment plans for Cebu Pacific. We’ve done that last year and part of it is really organizing to support not just current business but the business that we see for us in the future, so no,” Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and customer experience Candice Iyog said at a virtual press briefing.

To recall, the Gokongwei-led carrier laid off 30% or about 1,300 of its total workforce last year as the global air travel and tourism sectors were hit hard by the health crisis.

“Fortunately, Cebu Pacific had a very strong balance sheet entering into this pandemic. I think we are cautiously optimistic continuing to work on this situation,” Iyog said.

She noted that the airline also has no plans of downsizing its fleet of 73 aircraft.

“No plans on reduction of the fleet,” she said.

“We still think we have the right size of the fleet.”

The Cebu Pacific executive said that the 73-aircraft fleet is “ready for the full recovery of the network and we want to go back to pre-COVID [level] as soon as possible.”

Iyog said that about a half of its fleet are in operation, while seven are parked in Australia’s Alice Springs for storage to cut expenses.

Meanwhile, the Cebu Pacific executive announced the carrier will increase its flights in October to tourism havens Siargao, Boracay, and Bohol as the country’s leading airline push for domestic travel recovery, following the easing of quarantine restrictions. 

In October, the airline will expand its flights to Siargao from five times to six times weekly; raise its frequencies to Boracay from four to five times daily; and bump up flights to Bohol from nine to 10 times weekly.

“We believe reopening domestic travel and the promotion of responsible travel is critical to rebuilding the trust and travel confidence in the industry,” Iyog said.

“We also know that the situation continues to be fluid, that is why we make it a priority to always make travel convenient for everyJuan, on top of providing the much-needed flexibility during this time,” she added.

For international destinations, Cebu Pacific will also resume its daily flights to Dubai on September 30.

For Japan, Cebu Pacific will fly twice weekly to Nagoya starting October 2, and Osaka on October 4; and resume Fukuoka on November 5. Cebu Pacific will restart its flights to Kuala Lumpur on October 4.

To encourage passengers to travel safely and affordably, Cebu Pacific has an ongoing P99 seat sale until September 26, to and from key cities like Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Dipolog, Iloilo, and a lot more.

Travel period began on September 17, and may be used to book flights up to June 30, 2022. 

“I think as we get out of ECQ (enhanced community quarantine), what we're really learning is how we get the right balance between health and safety of individuals, to health and safety of economy, and get both,” Iyog said.

“We're ready for the fourth quarter to ramp it up. We are working with the government, LGUS (local government units), and travelers to simplify requirements if you're vaccinated,” she added.

Local airline companies -- Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, and AirAsia -- earlier met with presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion to seek the government’s help to relax mobility restrictions for both international and local travelers. 

Among the appeals of the sector is to reduce the 10-day quarantine period for incoming travelers to seven days as this has been financially burdensome for them. --KBK, GMA News