Cebu Pacific's Australia launch falls victim to old fashioned protectionism and mercantilism

Bilateral agreement differences are providing a check on the launch of services to Australia by Philippine low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific, which is interested in serving Melbourne and Sydney using its new fleet of A330-300s. The differences between Australian and Philippine authorities on an extension to their air services agreement is frustrating Australian airports, which have seen medium/long-haul low-cost carriers drive international traffic growth in recent years.

Cebu Pacific would be the fourth medium/long-haul LCC to operate international services to/from Australia, joining AirAsia X, Scoot and Jetstar. The rapid expansion of AirAsia X in Australia, where the Malaysian carrier will become by the end of 2013 the fourth largest foreign carrier, was analysed in the first part in this series of reports on the Asia-Australia market.

The Philippines is a much smaller market for Australia than Singapore or Malaysia. But there is potential for significant growth, particularly if a new LCC can enter, stimulating demand in a market which is highly price sensitive.