Southeast Asia's first long-haul budget flight to Dubai takes off on 7 October 2013

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan

                / KUCINTA SETIA

Southeast Asia's first long-haul direct budget flight to Dubai takes off from Manila on 7 October 2013.

On 7 October, Cebu Pacific Air's first Airbus A330-300 aircraft under flight code 5J7944 is scheduled to depart for Dubai from Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 at 4.40 pm and arrives in Dubai International Airport Terminal 2 at 9.40 pm UAE time after nine hours on 8 October (1.40 am Singapore time). This is the longest long-haul flight ever performed by a low-cost Asian budget airline after flight suspensions to Paris and London by AirAsia X.

The first outbound budget flight from Dubai to Manila takes place on 8 October under flight code 5J7945  at 11.10 pm UAE time (3.10 am Singapore time) and touches down in Manila at 11.40 am local time on 9 October.

The Airbus A330-300 aircraft of Cebu Pacific Air has a configuration of more than 400 all-economy class seats. Passengers can enjoy OnAir Wifi connectivity inflight.

Cebu Pacific Air is leasing up to 8 A330-300 aircraft for its new long-haul operations, with the first 4 aircraft for delivery between mid-2013 and 2014, enabling it to become Asia's first short-haul, medium-haul and long-haul budget airline. The aircraft with a maximum flying range of up to 11 hours enables the Philippine carrier to serve markets such as Australasia, the Middle East, parts of Europe and the US from Manila, thus effectively positioning Manila as another Southeast Asia's hub for low-cost long-haul flights after Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Cebu Pacific Air presently operates a fleet of 10 Airbus A319, A320 jets and 8 ATR-72-500 aircraft and is waiting to introduce the new Airbus A321neo aircraft to its fleet besides the A330-300 jet.

Besides Dubai, Cebu Pacific Air plans to inaugurate scheduled flights to Honolulu, Sydney, Frankfurt, Auckland and Los Angeles as a medium-haul and long-haul budget flight route pioneer of Southeast Asia.

Cebu Pacific Air is the low-cost flight pioneer of trans-Asian services to Seoul, Busan, Taipei, Osaka, Shanghai and Beijing from Southeast Asia.