Cebu Pacific (CEB) has made a strategic push to enhance its market presence and appeal to Australian residents eager to discover new and exciting destinations.
Launched to capitalise on the surge in international travel, the airline’s latest campaign, Fly to Happy, Fly to the Philippines with Cebu Pacific, promotes limited-time bargain airfares to encourage bookings, plus a catchy tune promoting the country as a happy destination.
The airline recently ran a promotion till April 30 offering some of its lowest fares ever from A$289 (US$188) on its Melbourne or Sydney routes for travel between May 1 and September 30 this year.
CEB already has a healthy customer base among Filipinos, who ranked number five for the most common overseas country of birth at the last Australian census in 2021, but it is believed there is an untapped market among leisure-seeking Australian travellers.
“(The campaign) is targeted to entice non-Filipino travellers to visit the Philippines and make Cebu Pacific their airline of choice,” said CEB spokesperson Carmina Romero.
“Our internal (research) has indicated that Australia would be a promising market. In 2023 alone, Cebu Pacific carried more than 100,000 inbound passengers from Melbourne and Sydney to Manila. This significant volume of passengers reflects a growing interest in air travel between Australia and the Philippines.
“We see great potential for further growth and development in serving the Australian market and are confident that these travellers can discover a variety of unique attractions and thrilling adventures here in the Philippines,” she told TTG Asia.
Romero continued to say there’s been significant positive feedback to the campaign so far, following events with stakeholders and influencers in Melbourne.
Although the campaign signals a new chapter, remnants of frustration from flight cancellations could temper some customers’ responses.
The airline’s last campaign ended with the cancellation of all Melbourne to Manila flights between October 30, 2022 and March 25, 2023, leaving many frustrated customers scrambling to rebook with other airlines or deal with the company’s help bots to try and claim refunds. The cancellations were blamed on network-related schedule changes.
“I had booked my tickets in March that year for Christmas and was looking forward to being able to fly directly from Melbourne with my young family. So to have my tickets cancelled two months before without any explanation was upsetting, and I eventually got my refund from my bank rather than the airline,” confided an impacted customer, who chose to remain anonymous for this article.
“I do find the current promotion attractive because it’s a really good price – but I would love some assurance that the previous cancellations won’t happen again and that they will improve customer relations because we have high expectations here in Melbourne,” the customer added.
Invited to respond, Romero said CEB has since achieved stronger resiliency in the face of global supply challenges.
“Ahead of the fourth quarter 2023 peak, we had already (arranged) precautionary allocation of spare aircraft on standby to be utilised for disruptions. Taking delivery of new aircraft is also one of the proactive steps we’ve made to boost our operational resiliency,” she said.
“We have also made significant improvements in our customer policies to adapt our services to our customers’ evolving needs,” she added.
This includes extending the validity of CEB’s travel vouchers to 18 months, previously six months. An “elevated digital experience” has also been introduced with a “new and improved” 24/7 virtual assistant that is better connected with CEB’s help centre and its live agents.
CEB’s Fly to Happy, Fly to the Philippines with Cebu Pacific campaign will involve other activities this year to strengthen brand awareness and is run across other markets within the airline’s international network.
