Cebu Pacific to suspend operations in 3 Middle Eastern routes

CEBU Pacific Air announced Wednesday that it will halt flying to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Doha in Qatar because the routes are not viable anymore. Lawyer JR Mantaring, CEB vice president for corporate affairs, said there were too many competitions already in the said routes. “The entry of Cebu Pacific into these markets benefited passengers with lower fares and more choices. Of late, other carriers have aggressively added more flights, which has resulted in substantial oversupply of seats and fares that are so low, hence making the routes unsustainable,” he said in a statement. He said it makes more sense for CEB to re-deploy the aircraft used for the Riyadh, Doha and Kuwait service to routes where they could further stimulate demand and sustain the low fare offers.

“We have to continuously review our routes to ensure their viability,” he said. CEB will fly the last of its four-times-a-week service from Manila to Kuwait on June 13, and its Kuwait-Manila flight on June 14. The thrice-weekly Manila-Doha-Manila route will have its last flight on July 1; while CEB’s last flight from Manila to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia will depart on July 2, while the Riyadh-Manila flight will leave on July 3.

CEB said it will retain its other long-haul services to and from Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Sydney, Australia, with a view to increasing frequencies to these destinations in the future. The airline also flies to 24 other international destinations across Asia and the United States; as well as 37 domestic destinations. “Passengers affected by the suspension of CEB service in Doha, Riyadh and Kuwait are being contacted. Options are being provided to minimize the disruption, which include rebooking passengers on flights with other airlines or on earlier travel dates with CEB; a full refund; or placing the full value of the ticket in a travel fund for future use,” CEB said.