Cebu Pacific on Monday said it has taken delivery of its first A321neo to expand its Asia-Pacific network.
The airline, owned by industrialist John Gokongwei, ordered 32 A321neo aircraft directly from Airbus and will receive another five A320neo leased from Dublin-based Avolon.
The new aircraft will support the carrier’s expansion and fleet renewal program.
The new addition complements Cebu Pacific’s Airbus fleet, which currently includes 43 A320 Family aircraft and eight A330-300 wide-bodies.
The A321neo aircraft for Cebu Pacific features 236 seats in a single class configuration. The aircraft is powered by Pratt and Whitney PurePower GTF engines.
The A321neo offers new generation engines and delivers 20 percent fuel cost savings. It also offers significant environmental benefits with nearly 50 percent reduction in noise footprint compared with previous generation aircraft.
Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific said 68,284 passengers flew in 414 domestic and international flights on December 21, 2018—the highest number flown in a single day.
The figure surpassed the previous record of 65,298 passengers flown on May 7, 2018, during the peak dry season.
For the yuletide peak season covering December 16, 2018 to January 7, 2019, Cebu Pacific and Cebgo flew a total of 1.391 million passengers, up 7.4 percent year-on-year.
“We are pleased to have enabled hundreds of thousands of passengers to make memories and moments during the yuletide season. We thank the airport authorities, our partners, stakeholders, and most of all, our staff for the effort to help serve the traveling public during the peak travel period. As passenger traffic continues to grow, we are committed to improving our service to make flying with Cebu Pacific more pleasant, safer and more efficient,” said Cebu Pacific chief operating officer Michael Ivan Shau.
Cebu Pacific operates one of the youngest fleets in the world with an average age of 5.06 years for all its aircraft as of December 31, 2018. Its 71-strong fleet is comprised of 36 Airbus A320, seven Airbus A321CEO, eight Airbus A330, eight ATR 72-500, and 12 ATR 72-600 aircraft.