Cebgo

Cebgo, Inc., operating as Cebgo (stylized as cebgo), is the regional brand of Cebu Pacific. It is the successor company to SEAIR, Inc., which previously operated as South East Asian Airlines and Tigerair Philippines.[3] It is now owned by JG Summit, the parent company of Cebu Pacific which operates the airline. The airline's main base has been transferred from Clark International Airport (formerly Diosdado Macapagal International Airport), Angeles to Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Metro Manila. On April 30, 2017, Cebgo planned to move out from Manila and transfer its main base to Mactan–Cebu International Airport in Cebu City because NAIA has already maxed out its capacity.[4] Currently, it operates an all-ATR fleet, with a total of 15 in service.[3]

This article is about the former South East Asian Airlines under SEAir Inc.. For the other SEAir, see South East Asian Airlines International.
Cebgo
IATA ICAO Callsign
DG[1] SRQ[1] BLUE JAY[2]
Founded1995 (as South East Asian Airlines)
Hubs
Frequent-flyer programGetGo
AllianceValue Alliance
Fleet size15
Destinations30
Parent companyCebu Pacific Air
Headquarters3rd Floor, Cebu Pacific Building, 8006 Domestic Road, Pasay City, Philippines 1301
Key peopleAlexander G. Lao (President & CEO)
Websitewww.cebupacificair.com
Cebgo ATR 72–600 at Busuanga Airport.
Cebgo ATR 72–500 at Balagbag Ramp, Terminal 4 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

History
A SEAIR Airbus A320 in 2012.

The airline was established as South East Asian Airlines (SEAir) in 1995 and started operations in the same year. However, its franchise was granted by the Congress of the Philippines only on May 13, 2009, through Republic Act No. 9517.

The airline received its corporate registration from the Securities and Exchange Commission on 25 March 1995 mainly to operate aircraft leasing, chartering and a few domestic scheduled flights. In May 1995, the airline was registered with the Clark Special Economic Zone to operate services in the Clark-Manila-Subic area and to tourist destinations throughout the Luzon and the Visayas regions. It continued expanding its routes and opened a hub in Zamboanga City in 2002.

On 29 September 2006, a deal was announced in which Singapore-based Tigerair would enter a commercial and operational tie-up with SEAir from February 2007.[5] The tie-up was finally approved in 2008 after protest from four other Philippine airlines. However, due to the unfavorable operating environment, the plan was put into hiatus. Tigerair and SEAir revisited the partnership plan in 2010 and it was officially launched on 16 December 2010. Seats on flights operated by SEAir using two aircraft leased from Tigerair were sold and marketed by Tigerair for SEAir. Shortly after SEAir and Tigerair launched the partnership, Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Zest Airways and Air Philippines sent a letter of protest to the Department of Transportation and Communications claiming the partnership between SEAir and Tigerair was illegal and requested the authorities to stop flights operating under the partnership.[6] The Tigerair-SEAir partnership began with international flights from Clark to Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau. It was then expanded to domestic destination from Manila (NAIA) to Davao and Cebu (slated to launch in July 2011). However, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) ordered the sales of the domestic flight under the partnership to be suspended on 20 May 2011, after receiving complaints from Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific. Since the ban from CAB was lifted in October 2011, the planned domestic flight (between Manila (NAIA) to Davao and Cebu) was scheduled to start in May 2012.[7]

In February 2011, Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd., parent company of Tigerair, purchased 32.5% shares of SEAir Inc. They increased their shares to 40% in August 2012.

In December 2012, CAB approved SEAir's application to form SEAir International, a full-service airline focusing on domestic and international leisure destinations and an independent operation from SEAir Inc., which was rebranded as Tigerair Philippines; "The two carriers have some common shareholders but it is not a unit of the other. Seair-I was formed to take on the turboprop division [of SEAir Inc.] which was excluded in the share sale with Tigerair."[8] SEAir Inc. was renamed Tigerair Philippines Inc. on 7 June 2013.

In January 2014, Cebu Pacific announced that it was acquiring the entirety of Tigerair Philippines for US$14.5 million by buying all shares.[9]

In May 2015, for the fourth time, Tigerair Philippines was rebranded as Cebgo to reflect the relationship between Tigerair Philippines as a wholly owned subsidiary airline of its parent company Cebu Pacific.[10]

By October 2015, Cebgo returned 5 Airbus A320s to Cebu Pacific and thereafter operated a pure turboprop fleet of ATR 72-500s

In January 2016, Cebu Pacific, Cebgo's Parent Company, announced it will order 16 ATR 72-600s at the Paris Air Show. This is to meet the growing demand of inter-island services.[11]

In February 2018, after a crowdsourcing campaign was launched in 2017, Cebu Pacific announced it was flying to Batanes, the most requested destination in the campaign. They will use Cebgo's ATR72 for the route. The route's inaugural flight was on March 25, 2018.[12]

On March 17, 2020, it was announced that along with parent airline Cebu Pacific, they will suspend all operations from March 17, 2020, up to April 14, 2020, due to the Enhanced Community Quarantine measures implemented by the government over the island of Luzon due to the rising cases of the Coronavirus in The Philippines.[13]

Destinations
Main article: List of Cebgo destinations

Cebgo flies to 30 destinations in the Philippines as of January 2020. It operates from its bases in Cebu and Manila.[3]

Fleet
Cebgo
A Cebgo ATR 72-500 is ready to take off.
A SEAir Dornier 328 is parked at Godofredo P. Ramos Airport.
A Cebgo ATR 72-600 is parked at the ramp of Bohol-Panglao International Airport. (May 2019)

As of February 2021, Cebgo operates the following aircraft:[14][3]

For the fleet of parent company Cebu Pacific, see Cebu Pacific § Fleet.

Current fleet
Cebgo fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
ATR 72-600 13[15] 3 78 Replaced the ATR 72-500s.
Deliveries will take place until 2022.
Cebgo Cargo fleet
ATR 72-500/P2F 2[16][17] — Cargo First operator for the ATR72-500/P2F variant in the country.
Total 15 3

On February 10, 2015, Cebu Pacific began transferring all of its ATR 72-500 to Cebgo. Cebgo ceased jet operations, while Cebu Pacific's last turboprop flight was on October 5 that year.[18]

On June 16, 2016 at the 2016 Paris Air Show, Cebu Pacific announced orders for ATR 72-600 aircraft for its regional subsidiary Cebgo to meet growing demand for domestic services. The airline is the launch customer of the high-density Armonia cabin, which seats up to 78 passengers.[19][20]

In August 2019, Cebgo's first ATR 72-500 freighter, RP-C7252, arrived in the country. The aircraft was among the few dedicated cargo aircraft, as the Philippines' cargo movement were mostly catered in passenger aircraft's cargo compartments.[21] Soon after, the airline then took delivery of its second ATR 72-500 converted freighter aircraft in December 2020. Coming all the way from Sabena Technics DNR S.A.S.'s facility, RP-C7253 departed from Dinard, France on December 17, 2020. The final leg of its week-long journey ended with a technical stop in Bangkok, Thailand before flying direct to Manila on December 25, 2020.[17]

Retired fleet
Cebgo Retired Fleet
Aircraft Total Introduced Retired Notes
ATR 72-500 6 2008 2019 Retired and scrapped.
Airbus A319-100 2 2010 2015 Returned to Tigerair.
Airbus A320-200 3 2010 2015 Returned to Cebu Pacific.
Boeing 737-200F 1 2011 2012
Dornier 328 5 2004 2013 Operated by SEAir
Let L-410 Turbolet 9 Un­known 2013 Operated by SEAir
Total 26

Incidents and Accidents
  • On November 1, 2018, Cebgo Flight DG6717, an ATR 72-500 from Cebu City to Cagayan De Oro received an indication of a fire in the right engine (engine 2). The engine was shut down and a fire drill was performed. It safely landed back at Mactan Cebu International Airport. It was rated as a serious accident and an investigation was started, which led to the immediate retirement of the aircraft.[22]

References
  1. "Cebgo". ch-aviation. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  2. "JO 7340.2G Contractions" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. 5 January 2017. pp. 3–1–29. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  3. "Cebgo | Book Our Flights Online & Save | Low-Fares, Offers & More". www.alternativeairlines.com. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  4. Marasigan, Lorenz S. (Apr 30, 2017). "Cebgo to move main base of operations to Cebu - Lorenz S. Marasigan". Retrieved Sep 29, 2019.
  5. "Channel NewsAsia".
  6. "Airlines hit SEAir, Tiger Airways partnership". Retrieved Sep 29, 2019.
  7. "BusinessWorld - Seair readies new routes with ban lifted". bworldonline.com.
  8. "Seair International cleared for takeoff". InterAksyon.com. Archived from the original on 2013-06-29. Retrieved 2013-06-08.
  9. Dennis, William (January 8, 2014). "Cebu Pacific To Acquire Tigerair Philippines". Aviation International News. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  10. Manila Bulletin. "Tigerair Philippines renamed Cebgo". mb.com.ph.
  11. "Cebu Pacific ATR order meets growing demand for inter-island services". Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  12. Paz, Chrisee Dela. "Cebu Pacific to fly directly to Batanes". Rappler. Retrieved Sep 29, 2019.
  13. "Cebu Pacific Travel Advisory for Coronavirus".
  14. "First ATR 72-600 High Capacity delivered to Cebu Pacific" (Press release). ATR. 22 September 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  15. "Production List Search". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
  16. "Philippines' Cebgo takes redelivery of first ATR72 freighter". Ch-Aviation. 23 July 2019.
  17. Dirk Andrei Salcedo. "Cebu Pacific receives second ATR freighter". Aviation Updates Philippines | Latest Philippine aviation news. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  18. "Cebgo Philippines ends jet operations". ch-aviation. Retrieved Sep 29, 2019.
  19. "Welcome on board CEBU Pacific's ATR 72-600 High Capacity! - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  20. "Planespotting: The world's first ATR 72-600 aircraft - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  21. "Philippines' Cebgo takes redelivery of first ATR72 freighter". ch-aviation. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  22. "Cebu Pacific ATR 72-500 at Mactan on Nov,1st,2018. engine fire". Retrieved 3 June 2013.
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