Cebu Pacific will be getting three Airbus A320s and three ATR 72-500s this year, in an effort to expand its number of flights within Asia and the Philippines.

Their goal is to fly 9.3 million passengers this year, a growth spurt of 50 percent. In contrast, Cebu Pacific Airline flew 5.38 million domestic passengers and 1.4 million international passengers last year.

Cebu Pacific president and chief executive Lance Gokongwei credits the growth spurt to the increased low-fare Cebu Pacific promos and increased airline seat capacity.

It’s a zero fare Cebu Pacific Airline extravaganza for all Asian international flights coming from the airports of Clark, Cebu, Manila, and Davao.

It’s zero fares all around. Anybody who’s ever wanted to visit Bangkok, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kaohsiung, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Shanghai, Singapore, or Taipei, book your tickets now!

Travel period is from February 1 to March 31, 2009 while sale period is from January 16 to 22, 2009.

Cebu Pacific Airline is offering a New Year’s treat for passengers flying from January 1, 2009 to February 28, 2009.

You can win a roundtrip ticket to any of these top destinations:

• Clark – Bangkok
• Clark – Macau
• Manila – Kota Kinabalu
• Manila – Kaohsiung
• Manila – Osaka

Hold on to your boarding pass as proof of travel and take the survey here. The winners will be chosen at a random drawing on March 8, 2009 and will be notified by email.

Just like Philippine Airlines (PAL) teamed up with Visa and Mastercard to offer Mabuhay Miles, Cebu Pacific Airline has entered into partnerships with several credit card companies to offer rewards to loyal clients. (Yay for me!)

ABSCBN reports that cardholders of American Express, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Citibank, Metrobank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Bankard, SB Cards or Unionbank are qualified to convert their accumulated reward points into Cebu Pacific tickets. (I spoke too soon. Must apply to Unionbank ASAP.)

Cebu Pacific will also offer zero percent installment plans for Cebu Pacific Fun Tour packages, payable through the cardholder’s credit card. (Great! Just like tv lifts!)

According to the Civil Aeronautics Board,

• Cebu Pacific Airlines carried 2.57 million passengers in 2008, compared with 2.26 million in 2007
• Philippine Airlines (PAL) hauled off 2.25 million people in 2008 versus 1.98 million in 2007
• Asian Spirit flew 250,000 travellers in 2008 and 248,000 in 2007
• Air Philippines took 623,000 in 2008 and 544,000 in 2007
• Last, and yes, least, new player South East Asian Airlines (SEAIR) was taken by 138,000 people in 2008 versus 136,000 in 2007

It doesn’t look like the Philippines is suffering any economic recession by the look of these numbers, but CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla says that peak travel is masking the slow growth. Air travel growth of the Philippines is supposed to be 5 to 7 percent yearly, but the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is forecasting a growth of only 2 percent this year, and a decline of 3 percent in 2009.

Real the full Inquirer report here. (And I’m off to find some ball lock pins.)

Cebu Pacific has another zero fare seat sale ongoing, for those who want to travel early next year.

There’s a catch though, you gotta forego the luggage.

But I think that’s more than a fair price to pay, don’t you?

From Cebu Pacific:

Cebu Pacific (CEB), gives you an ultimate Christmas present to all passengers traveling with no check-in bags (‘Go Lite’). We offer absolutely FREE domestic seats while passengers booking international flights (except Osaka, Japan) will only have to pay for applicable government taxes.

The seat sale STARTS NOW until December 26, 2008 or until seats are sold out. This is valid for travel from February 1 to March 18, 2009. We have allocated more than 100,000 seats as our Christmas offering for all our loyal patrons.

‘Go Lite’ fares can be availed by passengers with no check-in luggage. Passengers with check-in bags will just add P200 upon booking.

Cebu Pacific is the fan favorite among all the Philippine carriers, even more popular than the flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL). Cebu Air started operations in March 1996 and launched its international flights in November 2001. Since then, it has become the low fare leader among airlines in the Philippines and is popular for ushering in the age of airfare online booking in the Philippines.

To date, Cebu Pacific operates from four hubs in the Philippines, namely Manila, Cebu, Davao and Clark, reaching all airports in the Philippines. Its international destinations include Bangkok, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kaohsiung, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Osaka, Pusan, Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, and Taipei.

Cebu Pacific domestic and international flights from Manila:

Cebu Pacific domestic and international flights from Cebu:

Cebu Pacific domestic and international flights from Davao:

Cebu Pacific domestic and international flights from Clark:

Here’s another Cebu Pacific promo for all you travel junkies.

Cebu Pacific Airlines is offering a P500 All-In promo for domestic flights in the Philippines. Travel period is from January 5 to March 18, 2009, while sale period is from October 22 to 27, 2008.  

If you are carrying more than 7kg of baggage, you pay an extra P200 for check-in luggage.

There’s also a P500 promo for international flights, but it’s exclusive of taxes and fees. A round trip ticket to Bangkok, for example, costs roughly P10,000. Shall I take it? Hmm, it’s a pretty good price. But I think I’ll pass just yet. :-)

CebuPaficAir.com is behaving rather slowly today, so I’m guessing there’s a load of people booking their tickets. Hurry and join the stampede. :-)

I’m a fan of Japanese food. Save for the raw stuff like sushi and sashimi, I eat it all. All the ~yakis like okonomiyaki (fried vegetables) and takoyaki (fried octopus). I love the ~dons too like the gyudon and the katsudon, mmm!

I have yet to visit a Japanese restaurant in the Philippines that authentically captures the taste of real Japanese food. (Most dishes are flavored to suit the Filipino palate, that is to say, sweetened.)

Still I never fail to try to visit any new Japanese restaurant I see. While travelling in Cebu, I happened upon this Manpuku Bento food stall in a mall foodcourt. So of course I had to try it.

As expected, the dishes didn’t quite taste like the ones in Japan, but still I enjoyed them.

I ordered the Pork Katsudon, since I was thinking it’s hard to go wrong with anything fried.

Gim meanwhile ordered some noodles (I made him do it, because I wanted to try some but they weren’t that good).

He got some sushi, too. California maki and salmon. He loved them, but me, eww, no not so much. I’ll stick to the cooked stuff, thank you very much.

They look pretty though.

He and I will be travelling to Cebu again in November. We both got free tickets from Cebu Pacific’s last 0-fare promo. To get the zero fare, we had to eschew our baggage rights and travel insurance rights as well.

I’m fine with not lugging around any baggage. We’ll be staying only two nights in Cebu anyways. But I’m kinda regretting we didn’t get any insurance. I know nothing’s gonna happen during the flight, but the worrywart in me insists we have some protection JUST IN CASE.

I searched the web for some sort of add-on insurance and chanced upon this travel medical insurance. I’m not sure it’s what I’m looking for, since it caters to travel abroad not domestic travel. But it’s a bookmark I’m keeping anyways just in case I need some protection for a future overseas trip (it covers medical insurance and terrorism insurance, among others).

Anyways, I am sure looking forward to another trip to Cebu. Our last visit there lasted only a day and we only got to do some malling in Ayala and SM Cebu. Maybe this time we’ll get to do some sightseeing instead of just face-stuffing. ;-P

Cebu Pacific, the Philippine’s #1 airline, is introducing four great features to its online booking service.

Go Lite

If you don’t need the 15kg baggage allowance, you can avail of the Go Lite fare, which slashes P200 off your ticket price. You are still allowed to bring carry-on baggage, though, but it must not exceed 7kg. Take note, if you decide to take the Go Lite fare but then on the day of your travel you did bring some baggage for check-in, you will have to pay P300.

This is going to be very handy for me, since I will be travelling from Mindanao to Manila often in the next few months (I no longer have classes to attend at AdMU but need to check in from time to time for my thesis consultations). And since I have clothes in Manila, Dipolog and Zamboanga, I don’t need to bring much with me when I travel.

Prepaid Excess Baggage

On the other hand, if you know beforehand you’re gonna be carrying a LOAD of baggage, over 15kg, you can opt to buy prepaid excess baggage in 5 kilo increments. Normally, a kilo of excess baggage (domestic flight) costs P100 over the counter. With the prepaid option, Cebu Pacific is giving a 20% discount for every 5 kilos, so you pay only P400 instead of P500.

This is definitely a feature I’ll avail of in March, when I haul off all the things I’ve accumulated in Manila back to Zamboanga…

TravelSure Insurance Option

Insurance costs P250 per flight, but you don’t have to pay if you don’t want to. However, even though I’m such a cheapskate, I can never will myself to uncheck the insurance box. God forbid any accident occurs, but in the event of one… I prefer to be compensated. :-) Better safe than sorry!

Preferred Seat Selection

I absolutely love this option! The first thing I say during check-in, no fail, is this: “Can I get a window seat?” If the ticket person says there aren’t any left, I ask for an aisle seat then. But never, never, ever do I want to get the middle seat! The endless elbow wars, the not having a good view of the outside, the lack of access to the rest room… it’s just extremely uncomfortable.

I booked two tickets for myself recently. One was a window seat, front row. The second, a window seat on the second row. Hee! Oh, but you should know that you have to pay to get a preferred seat. P200 for a premium seat, which are the front and exit rows, because they give a lot of leg space. And P100 for all the other seats.

Free Seats (Zero All-in Fares!)

Okay, so I’m breaking this news a little late (seat sale is from Sep 19-21). But when I got the message yesterday, I was so excited that the first thing I did was to book two round trip tickets for myself and one round trip for my boyfriend! Hee! So cool of Cebu Pacific!

Cebu Pacific was chosen as number one airline, so they decided to give away 50,000 seats for free (online booking only). Really, this time free means free. You don’t pay a thing. Okay, well, it’s free if you opt not to avail of insurance, baggage or a preferred seat. :-)

For my roundtrip ticket, I opted to get insurance and a preferred premium seat, so I paid P650. Wow, huh? That’s the cheapest ticket I’ve ever bought in my life!!! (Hurry, tickets are selling FAST!)

All hail Cebu Pacific!!!