Restoring passenger confidence

Starting off 25 years ago with just four aircrafts, today Cebu Pacific’s fleet has grown to 74 serving many domestic & international destinations with Dubai as a key long-haul point for eight years reaching over 190 mn passengers. During the pandemic Cebu Pacific has been tirelessly working to ensure the confidence of the travellers. Alex Reyes, Vice President – Commercial, Cebu Pacific speaks with TRAVTALK.

Shehara Rizly

Q Please share about the anniversary celebrated by Cebu Pacific.

Cebu Pacific celebrated its 25th year this March, commemorating its commitment to enable passengers to fly in the Philippines and various parts of the globe. It began with four planes, and has now grown to 74 in its fleet— steadfast progress in over two decades of being the country’s largest national flag carrier. It has also been operating flights to Dubai—the airline’s first long-haul route—for eight years already. Overall, the number of passengers CEB has served since inception has already reached over 190 million passengers.

Q How has this market been over the period?

Proving further its unyielding commitment to provide ease of travel for passengers amidst the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, CEB has been operating 20 per cent of its pre-COVID domestic network as of February 2021, operating flights to 28 Philippine destinations—of which, six destinations are already open for non-essential or leisure travel. As of this date, the airline has already restored flights to 86 per cent of our domestic destinations. Frequencies may be less than before, but it is also important to note that we are now providing access to more local destinations. We remain keen to make travel easier by providing flexibility in the hope of restoring passenger confidence in air travel.

Q How did Cebu Pacific handle the pandemic?

CEB has remained unswerving in its mandate to provide the highest level of aviation service for passengers and tourists, even amidst the hurdles of the pandemic. We continue to implement a multi-layered approach to safety, in accordance with global aviation standards.

Q What are the new products and services introduced?

One of the new undertakings CEB has introduced in order to restore passenger confidence in air travel includes permanently removing change fees, allowing travellers now to rebook their flights avs many times as needed. Apart from unlimited rebooking, we also offer travel fund valid for two years in a bid to provide our passengers utmost flexibility in booking.In addition, CEB has also introduced its newest add-on to CEB Travelsure called COVID Protect. This service provides coverage for COVID-19-related hospitalisation and treatments for as low as AED21. This newest top-up provides passengers who test positive for COVID-19 up to AED76,459 coverage for hospitalisation and medical expenses.