Phillipine Carrier Also Has Options For Eight More Planes

Philippine-based low-fare carrier Cebu Pacific and ATR announced Thursday the signing of a contract for the purchase of six ATR 72-500 turboprops, plus options for eight additional aircraft. The contract is valued at more than US $250 million.

The aircraft will be configured with 72 seats.

Lance Gokongwei, President and CEO of Cebu Pacific said "the move to further expand its fleet with ATRs is a continued manifestation of Cebu Pacific's commitment to bring air travel closer to more Filipinos and to bring them to more destinations which we can not cannot operate to at the moment due to runway strength and length limitations."

"We are buying up to 14 brand new ATR 72-500 aircraft for our continued expansion. The first two ATR 72-500s aircraft are expected to arrive in early 2008 and the complete delivery is expected by 2013," Gokongwei added.

Filippo Bagnato, ATR CEO said, "We are extremely pleased that Cebu Pacific has chosen the ATR 72-500 aircraft, thus allowing ATR to enter the Philippine market for the first time. The ATR aircraft, with their unbeatable economics and superior comfort, is the optimal choice for Cebu Pacific. At present, there are 136 ATR aircraft operated by 30 airlines across the Asia Pacific region and we are excited to add such a high quality operator to this list."

"We are looking forward to operating to more destinations and connecting more islands because we know that this is good not only for tourism but for our economy as a whole. It's time we brought our trademark low fares to every Juan," Gokongwei concluded.

FMI: www.cebupacificair.com, www.atraircraft.com