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Cebu Pacific

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Cebu Pacific

Cebu Air, Inc. (PSECEB), operating as Cebu Pacific (stylized in lowercase), is a Philippine low-cost airline based in Pasay, Metro Manila. Founded in 1988, the airline is the first low-cost carrier in Asia and is also the largest airline in the Philippines by fleet size. It offers scheduled flights to both domestic and international destinations. The airline operates flights from five bases in Cebu, Clark, Davao, Iloilo, and Manila.

With its low-cost business model and extensive destination network, Cebu Pacific became the Philippines' largest airline based on number of passengers flown on domestic and international routes in 2010, overtaking rival Philippine Airlines (PAL). According to Civil Aeronautics Board data, Cebu Pacific flew a total of 2.45 million passengers in the first quarter of 2010, nearly 110,000 more than PAL, which carried 2.34 million systemwide during the same period.

Cebu Pacific was established on August 26, 1988. Republic Act No. 7151, which grants a legislative franchise to Cebu Air, Inc. to operate, was approved on August 30, 1991. The airline began operations on March 8, 1996, with its first flight from Manila to Cebu. Domestic services began following market deregulation by the Philippine government. The airline was subsequently acquired by JG Summit Holdings, owned at the time by John Gokongwei.

The airline temporarily ceased operations in February 1998 after being grounded by the government following the crash of the crash of Flight 387 that killed 104, 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. Thrice-weekly flights to Seoul commenced on March 1, 2002, followed by Singapore on October 1. 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.

On November 10, 2005, Cebu Pacific launched "Go", a fare discount program that permanently reduced its fares by half. The move was done to increase the airline's revenue by twenty percent. Following this, Cebu Pacific experienced significant passenger growth, hiking up its sales volume by ninety percent. Its president and CEO, Lance Gokongwei, anticipated that with the low fares, air travel would be cheaper than sea travel. He further added that:

This is all about getting people to think about flying. For those who fly today, we would like to encourage them to fly more frequently, and for those who haven’t flown before, we want to welcome them on board and introduce them to air travel.

The airline resumed its Manila–Singapore flights on August 31, 2006, and launched a direct flight from Cebu to Singapore on October 23. It was the first low-cost airline to serve the Cebu-Singapore-Cebu sector, and competing directly with Singapore Airlines subsidiary SilkAir, the only Philippine carrier serving the route for years until Philippine Airlines resumed direct service in 2017. Cebu Pacific's direct Cebu–Hong Kong flights began on October 2, 2006, making it the Philippine carrier to serve the Cebu-Hong Kong-Cebu route after PAL terminated its direct service and began code-sharing with Cathay Pacific on the route. Manila–Bangkok flights were also launched in the same year.

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