Cebu Pacific (CEB), the airline business unit of Gokongwei-owned conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc., will fly direct from Manila to Osaka, Japan three-times weekly starting on November 20, 2008.
Using its 179-seater A320 aircraft, the new service departs every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 1:30pm and arrives in Osaka at 6:25pm. The return trip takes off at 7:10pm and arrives in Manila at 10:05pm.
Osaka is Cebu Pacific’s first destination in Japan and it’s fifteenth in Asia after Bangkok, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kaohsiung, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Pusan, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, and Taipei.
Lance Y. Gokongwei, Cebu Pacific President and CEO, said, “Japan has a very active and vibrant travel market. This service will be strategically important to the country’s tourism agenda and should also help us attain our goal of flying seven million passengers this year.”
He added, “The Manila-Osaka service will likewise allow our overseas Filipino workers to come home more frequently because of our trademark low fares. This will also generate interest among the Japanese market for our competitive medical and wellness tourism packages in the Philippines. ”
Cebu Pacific is offering a one-way introductory fare of P1,999 on the Manila-Osaka route, a price cut of 70% from the current fares offered by other airlines. The seat sale will run from September 16 to 30, 2008 and is good for travel from November 20 to December 18, 2008. Fare is non-refundable and exclusive of applicable surcharges and government taxes.
After the seat sale, the lowest year-round ‘Go’ fare is P3,999, still a price cut of 40% from the current fares offered by other airlines for this route.
Cebu Pacific explained that passengers who avail of their ‘Go Lite’ fares can get P200 off of their fares. Bookings can be made via cebupacificair.com, Cebu Pacific’s call centers, sales offices or travel agents.
Gokongwei emphasized, “With this long awaited announcement to fly to Japan, we hope that the public will take advantage of our seat sale and book their flights now.”
“Cebu Pacific is the only low cost carrier in the world operating to the three major North Asian countries with services to China, Korea and now Japan.” Gokongwei concluded.
Cebu Pacific is RP’s leading airline to the ASEAN region. The airline flew 5.5 million passengers in 2007 and has the youngest fleet of aircraft in the Philippines.