Cebu Pacific launches Macau-Cebu route

Budget airline Cebu Pacific has started to operate flights between Macau and Cebu in the Philippines.

The launch of the third direct route from the airline to and from Macau, after Manila and Clark, happened last Friday, with the flight scheduled to take place four times a week: every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

General Manager of Cebu Pacific (Greater China), Joe Kwok, told MDT that now is an ideal time to open up the Cebu hub to Macau.

“We have been [connecting] the city to Clark and to Manila for over 10 years so right now is a good opportunity to open Cebu, which is centrally located in [the] Southern part of the Philippines.”

Although the new flight expands the possibilities for the passengers from both ends, Kwok noted that the company is also considering the possibility of attracting “other passengers from [the] Pearl River Delta region,” he said, noting, “Cebu is not just a destination [itself] but is also a gateway [to] the islands of Boracay, Palawan, Suragao and Bohol.”

According to the data disclosed by the Cebu Pacific (Greater China) General Manager, since its opening back in 2007, the Manila route has served around 870,000 passengers, while the Clark route counted over 400,000.

The timing chosen by the company to open the new route is because of the festive season of Christmas, New Year and one of the bigger annual events of the city of Cebu, the Sinulog (Santo Niño) Festival – an annual cultural and religious festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City and which, every year, attracts many visitors to the region.