Cebu Pacific said it is prepared to support the quick domestic recovery with extensive network and continuous COVID-19 vaccination roll-out.
The airline operates the widest network in the Philippines covering 32 destinations, on top of six international destinations. Starting June 21, CEB flights to Boracay would be five times daily, while flights to Bohol would also operate daily.
“We remain cautiously optimistic as we prepare for the bounce back and will do everything that is within our control to support and aid that,” said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and customer experience.
“With the arrival of more vaccines and the pace at which vaccines are being rolled out, we are hopeful that in due time our networks will recover to pre-pandemic levels,” she said.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in its June 18 report the carriers’ operating conditions would continue to depend on domestic travel market amid changing travel restrictions as nations work to inoculate their populations.
“Over the last months, the recovery of air passenger demand has been mainly driven by domestic markets that have mostly remained unaffected by travel restrictions. In the meantime, international travel was restricted by most countries and governments are only starting to relax those restrictions as they vaccinate their populations and stabilize the epidemiological situation,” the IATA said.
“Our expectation is that in the near future, airlines’ operating conditions will be determined by two factors: the availability of domestic markets that they can rely on and the progress in vaccinations in the main countries in their networks,” it said.
The trade association also noted that carriers in the Asia Pacific and South American countries had large domestic markets to rely on, but that vaccination rates remained slow.