MANILA - Budget Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific said Tuesday it would expand its fleet further with the purchase of up to 20 additional Airbus A320 aircraft worth 1.3 billon dollars.
Cebu Pacific, which has just completed a 670 million-dollar fleet upgrade, said 10 Airbus A-320 planes would be delivered between 2010 and 2012.
Ten further A320s could then be ordered anytime between 2011 and 2013, said chief executive Lance Gokongwei.
"We are buying up to 20 additional Airbus A-320s for our domestic and regional operations," he said in a statement.
"The deal is made up of 10 firm orders with five options, and an additional five options if the first five options are taken.
"With this fleet expansion, we will be more than doubling our capacity. This means that we will be able to provide more low fares both in the domestic and international routes we operate, as well as spread our wings to new destinations," both domestic and regional, he said.
The airline, a unit of conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc., will finance its expansion program through a combination of internally generated funds and other options.
Gokongwei reiterated the company's earlier announcement that an initial public offering (IPO) for a listing is one of several options Cebu Pacific is considering to bankroll the purchase of new planes.
However, the airline has yet to announce the timetable and size of the possible offering.
Cebu Pacific now operates to 20 domestic and seven regional destinations using A319s and A320s, with a fleet age of less than one year.
From this year until 2013, two to three new aircraft will be delivered every year to Cebu Pacific, said Gokongwei.
He said airline profitability will increase considerably with the purchase of new planes, especially as Cebu Pacific opens more regional routes in the next few months.
For this year, Cebu Pacific projects passenger numbers will increase to five million from last year's 3.2 million, rising to eight million by 2010.
Gokongwei said Cebu Pacific has already outpaced its rival, Philippine Airlines (PAL), controlled by business tycoon Lucio Tan, in terms of domestic flights and number of routes serviced.
"However you measure it, we are now clearly number one domestically in the Philippines," said Gokongwei.

03/13/2007 08:52 GMT