Cebu Pacific is exploring the “business case” for the longer-range variants of the Airbus A321neo aircraft, as it moves closer to firming up its record order for up to 152 Airbus narrowbodies.
Speaking at a media roundtable in Manila, airline president and commercial chief Xander Lao says the low-cost operator has not ruled out the A321LR or the A321XLR variants.
“We’re looking at the [A321LRs]…but that business case is still ongoing. The XLR is an option too, but that’s under study. We have a lot of A321neos that are coming into our fleet so we are pretty busy over the next couple of months, if not years,” Lao says.
He notes that the “four-hour concentric circle” – areas that are within 4h flying time – from the Philippines contains a catchment area of about 2 billion people, a significant area of opportunity for the airline.
“Do we need [an aircraft] that can fly six or eight hours? Maybe, maybe not. We haven’t made up our minds,” Lao adds.
If it were to order the longer-range A321neos, Lao believes it would be converted from its options – the airline holds options for up to 50 A320neo-family aircraft – instead of switching its existing firm orders.
In July this year, Cebu Pacific signed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of up to 152 A321neos, in a deal worth about $24 billion at list prices.
When finalised, the deal – the country’s single largest ever aircraft purchase – covers firm orders for up to 102 A321neos, with purchase rights for another 50. The carrier has selected the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G to power the new narrowbodies.
