Cebu Pacific - History

History

The airline was established on August 26, 1988, and started operations on March 8, 1996. Republic Act No. 7151, which grants franchise to Cebu Air, Inc. was approved on August 30, 1991. Cebu Air, Inc. was subsequently acquired by JG Summit Holdings (owned by John Gokongwei). Domestic services commenced following market deregulation by the Philippine government. It temporarily ceased operations in February 1998 after being grounded by the government due to an accident, but resumed services later the next month following re-certification of its aircraft. It initially started with 24 domestic flights daily among Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao. By the end of 2001, its operations had grown to about 80 daily flights to 18 domestic destinations.

In the 2000s, Cebu Pacific was granted rights to operate international flights to the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Guam. International flights were launched on November 22, 2001, with a twice-daily service to Hong Kong. On March 1, 2002, it commenced thrice-weekly flights to Seoul. Other regional flights were introduced and suspended later; however, including flights to Singapore (from November 6, 2002, to January 2003) and from Manila via Subic to Seoul (from December 2002) due in part to the effects of the SARS epidemic.

The airline resumed its Manila-to-Singapore flights on August 31, 2006 and launched its direct flight from Cebu to Singapore on October 23, 2006, the first low-cost airline to serve the Cebu-Singapore-Cebu sector, and in direct competition with Singapore Airlines' subsidiary SilkAir, CEB is now the only Philippine carrier serving the Cebu-Singapore-Cebu route after PAL terminated its direct service. The airline operates direct flights from Cebu to Hong Kong which commenced October 2, 2006, which also made CEB the only Philippine carrier to serve a Cebu-Hong Kong-Cebu route after PAL terminated its direct service and is now code-sharing with Cathay Pacific for this route.

In May 2005, Cebu Pacific received two Airbus A320 aircraft on lease from CIT Leasing and operated its first service with the new aircraft on June 3, 2005, from Manila to Davao City.

In December 2006, after a month or two of operating the new direct flights, Cebu Pacific announced that it would increase flight frequency for its Cebu-Hong Kong-Cebu from four to five times weekly and Cebu-Singapore-Cebu flights from four to six weekly effective January 25, 2007. As of January 2008, it operates regional flights to Busan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul-Incheon, Taipei and Bangkok beginning April 6, 2008 from its Cebu hub; and Bangkok, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Singapore, Taipei, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai and Xiamen from Manila.

Cebu Pacific's plans to begin international flights from Clark were initially unsuccessful when its request was denied. The nations involved came to an agreement that Cebu Pacific would be only allowed to operate charter flights from Clark to the respective countries' airport(s). Only Singapore initially agreed to allow Cebu Pacific to fly scheduled flights from Clark to Singapore. Currently Cebu Pacific only operates a route from Clark to Cebu, but has since announced that it will be commencing international flights from Clark to Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore from November 2008 as well as domestic flights from Clark to Cebu.

In June 2007, Cebu Pacific announced an order of up to 14 brand-new ATR-72-500 aircraft, with six firm orders and eight options. It plans to initially offer flights to Boracay, using Boracay's Godofredo P. Ramos Airport.

On November 12, 2007, Cebu Pacific announced Davao's Francisco Bangoy International Airport as its fourth hub. Cebu Pacific announced that it would initially fly internationally from Davao to Singapore, Hong Kong and fly one domestic flight to Iloilo. Both direct services from Davao to Singapore and Iloilo commenced on May 8, 2008, while the service to Hong Kong commenced on May 9, 2008.

In late 2007, Cebu Pacific mentioned that it is aiming to cross the Pacific and launch non-stop flights to the United States West Coast, Houston, Texas and Chicago, Illinois by mid-2009.

On December 18, 2007, Cebu Pacific announced that it would exercise options on its recent ATR-72-500 turboprop order (initially six firm) to increase its firm order to 10.

On February 19, 2008, Cebu Pacific Air received its first brand-new ATR 72-500 from Toulouse, France and expected to take delivery of another five ATRs from March to December 2008. The initial two ATRs fly on routes such as Cebu to Bacolod.

Cebu Pacific took delivery of its 16th brand-new, 179-seater Airbus A320 aircraft, from Toulouse, France, on March 20, 2008. The new aircraft supports CEB's expanding international and domestic operations which include flights to 12, soon to be 15, international destinations.

On May 28, 2008, Cebu Pacific was named as the world's number one airline in terms of growth. The airline was also ranked fifth in Asia for Budget Airline passengers transported and 23rd in the world. The airline carried a total of almost 5.5 million passengers in 2007, up 57.4 per cent from 2006

On July 22, 2008, Cebu Pacific was the first airline to use the new Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport with its flight to Caticlan being the first to depart at 0515 local time. On August 1, 2008, it moved its international operations to the terminal; thus, becoming the first airline to have regular international commercial flights from the new terminal.

In August 2009, Cebu Pacific became the first airline in the Philippines to use social media. The airline has fanpage on Facebook social network and has a Twitter account at @CebuPacificAir.

In September 2010, a video surfaced on the popular video sharing website Youtube which showed three female flight attendants dancing along to two popular pop songs (Just Dance by Lady Gaga and California Gurls by Katy Perry) as they performed the safety demonstration. The video subsequently became a viral video.

On January 6, 2011, Cebu Pacific flew its 50 millionth passenger from Manila to Beijing. The airline targets to reach the 100 million passengers mark in 2015. A website dedicated to connection thru social media of various airlines around the world, awarded Cebu Pacific Air as the 'most sociable airline of the world' for being voted no. 1 in 2011, besting other established airlines such as KLM, AirAsia, Singapore Airlines including other domestic airlines.

Cebu Pacific will commence international long-haul flights to Middle-East, U.S.A., Australia and some parts of Europe on third quarter of 2013 using Airbus A330-300.