Cebu Pacific expects Tigerair Philippines to be a “solid contributor” to its operations from next year.
Speaking to reporters at a roundtable session in Singapore, Cebu Pacific chief executive Lance Gokongwei says the plan is to add a fifth aircraft to Tigerair Philippines’ fleet in December, and for its domestic network to be expanded.
He adds that Tigerair Philippines is still operating under its own air operator’s certificate, despite Cebu Pacific having concluded the acquisition in March.
“For the year we still expect to operate it at a loss but over the summer period we were profitable and we expect the next three months closer to Christmas to also be profitable,” he says.
Gokongwei explains that the carrier was “hard hit” when it had to cut chartered flights to China – an arrangement Tigerair Philippines had before Cebu Pacific took over. It has since deployed those capacity on domestic services.
“We’re quite happy with that and from next year the integration will be fully well on its way and we expect it to be a solid contributor to Cebu’s operation.”
A key part of the alliance is also to secure regulatory approval to allow them to jointly operate routes between Singapore and the Philippines. Gokongwei says Singapore is a destination where Cebu Pacific needs additional capacity, but that it has not been able to do so because of rights limitations.
Both carriers have also started selling tickets across each other’s networks.
“Tigerair Philippines brings a lot to the table in terms of route offerings that we don’t have. We also offer a lot in North Asia, domestic Philippines which Tiger doesn’t operate to,” says Gokongwei.
He adds that the carrier has a one year contract with Tigerair regarding the use of the brand, and that his team is examining various branding options for the group’s latest acquisition.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
