Cebu, which hosted Routes Asia 2019, is eying a steady recovery of short-haul international traffic
By DAVID CASEY
When Taiwan’s Starlux Airlines touched down at Mactan-Cebu International (CEB) in mid-January, the carrier became the fourth new international airline partner to begin scheduled flights the Philippine airport within the space of 12 months.
The launch of the route from Taipei Taiwan Taoyuan (TPE) came just weeks after China Airlines debuted at Cebu, also flying from Taipei. These new services followed the start of Singapore Airlines’ one-stop from Singapore (SIN) via Davao (DVO) earlier in the year, as well as Turkish Airlines’ operations from Istanbul (IST) via Manila (MNL).
Aines Librodo, head of airline marketing and tourism development at airport operator GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation, told Routes the new airline partners have provided a boost as the recovery kicks in. However, she admitted that international traffic remains “a work in progress.”
“More than 60% of Cebu’s traffic comes from North Asia and, except for Korea, service from Japan and China has been slow to resume,” she said. “We closed 2022 with about half of our destinations reopened, but the number of pre-pandemic international passengers was lower by 64%.”
Librodo said load factors for flights to South Korea are in the “high 80s” and the airport expects additional frequencies such is the demand. She also highlighted Singapore as a standout performer, with flight frequencies back to 21 per week, down by just five on 2019 levels.
“We are focused on the resumption of our pre-pandemic connectivity,” Librodo added. “We hope to increase capacity on unserved and underserved routes to destinations in Southeast Asia including Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and several points in Vietnam.”
Cebu, the gateway to the Visayas and Mindanao regions in the Philippines, should also start to reap the benefits of the reopening of mainland China’s market over the coming months as Chinese citizens look to take a vacation after almost three years of stringent international travel restrictions.
Around 18% of CEB’s international traffic came from China before the pandemic, making it the second-largest market behind South Korea. Cebu had nonstop links to nine destinations with 10 airlines.
“With the easing of restrictions and given the sentiments of travelers in favor of Southeast Asia, we are expecting Chinese carriers to return around the second quarter,” Librodo said.
As well as targeting a recovery in Asian markets, she added that Cebu would continue to engage with carriers for services to destinations like Los Angeles, Melbourne and Sydney, alongside additional points in the Middle East and in the longer-term, Europe.
“We are seeing substantial indirect traffic from these destinations, and we believe that there is a huge potential. There are also leakages, especially via Manila,” Librodo explained.
In the domestic market, Cebu’s traffic has recovered to more than 80% of pre-pandemic levels and the airport is connected to 26 points in the Philippines—one more than at the start of 2020.
In December, Philippine Airlines outlined plans to expand its CEB hub as part of a tourism revival plan. New destinations launched during the month included Baguio, Borongan City and Tawi-Tawi.
With traffic continuing to show steady month-on-month gains, Cebu is also looking forward to the opening of a second runway later this year. Construction of the parallel runway should be finished by March and be operational by the third quarter of 2023.
GMR hopes the runway will increase capacity and efficiency of CEB by about 25%.
Source: OAG (February 2023)
