CEB posts 37% international passenger growth for Jan-Sept 2010

CEB carried more than 1.61 million international passengers for the first nine months of 2010, compared to approximately 1.17 million last year.

For the same period, the airline grew its domestic operations by 16%, for a system-wide passenger growth of 20%. CEB had been ranked first among Philippine carriers for carrying the most number of combined domestic and international passengers since the first quarter of 2010.

"This remarkable international passenger growth is attributed to our robust positions in Asian destinations, such as Osaka, Seoul (Incheon), Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur and Macau," said Candice Iyog, CEB VP for Marketing and Distribution.

"Our continued expansion and trademark low fares have made a big impact on travel and tourism. Even during the traditionally lean month of September this year, we flew 24% more than last year with over 860,000 passengers," she added.

To boost international travel further, CEB will mount additional flights to Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta and Brunei this December 2010. Services to Brunei were launched just last August 21, 2010.

The airline also announced that its Seoul and Bangkok operations will be strengthened with twice daily and ten times weekly flights, respectively, early next year.

Iyog said, "CEB is slated to add almost 8 million seats to its future operations, with the arrival of 3 more brand-new Airbus A320 aircraft this year, and the expected delivery of 19 more A320 aircraft until 2014."

"This will enable us to have the largest fleet of Airbus A320 family in the Philippines, and the second largest in Southeast Asia, allowing us to offer our trademark low fares to even more travelers," she added.

CEB flies to 16 international and 33 domestic destinations, operating the youngest aircraft fleet in the Philippines composed of 10 Airbus A319, 12 Airbus A320 and 8 ATR 72-500 aircraft. It has four main hubs in Manila, Cebu, Clark and Davao.