Travel rebound: Cebu Pacific boosts international flights
Booking system due for downtime from August 23-24
Manila: Cebu Pacific has announced additional flights to several international destinations as it ramps up operations on travel industry rebound.
The low-cost airline based in the central island of Cebu announced additional frequencies to three popular Asean destinations as well as Nagoya, Japan.
Manila-Bangkok: From the current five times a week, daily flights between Manila and Bangkok, Thailand will be offered from August 29.
Manila-Bali: The current thrice-weekly flights will be increased to five times weekly in September (no specific target date was announced yet).
Manila-Nagoya: Daily flights between Manila and Nagoya, Japan will be offered beginning September 23, from the current five-weekly operations.
Manila-Brunei: The carrier also plans to restart its Manila-Brunei flights by September 1, with twice-weekly services.
Cebu Pacific currently serves 25 international destinations and 34 domestic destinations — the widest domestic network in the Philippines.
“We are happy to keep growing our international network as we see an increasing demand for travel abroad, and as more destinations ease restrictions,” Xander Lao, CEB chief commercial officers said in a statement.
System downtime
Meanwhile, the airline advised passengers of a scheduled booking system downtime from 7pm on August 23 to 3am on August 24.
Passengers are advised to “manage” their flight bookings early and give ample time for airport check-in during the system downtime.
In an advisory, the airline said its booking system will be down for about 8 hours — from 7 pm (3pm UAE time) of August 23 until 3 am of August 24 (11pm, August 23 in the UAE time).
During this period, passengers will be unable to book or manage their flights during online — so they’re advised to do that earlier, according to the advisory posted on the airline’s Facebook page on August 19.
3- to 4-hour lead time
As for pre-departure procedures during the scheduled system downtime, passengers on outbound flights are urged to proceed to the airport 4 hours before their international flight — and three hours before a domestic flight.
Advanced online check-in
Passengers are also advised to do advanced online check-in — and save their boarding passes on their mobile devices for faster check-in at the airport.
During this system downtime period, Cebu Pacific staff will conduct check-in procedures manually.
Cabu Pacific’s fleet comprises of 22 A320ceo, 6 A320neo, 7 A321ceo, 10 A321neo, 6 A330ceo, 2 A330neo, 14 ATR 72-600, 6 ATR 72-500 and 2 ATR Freighters.