What’s next for Cebu Pacific?

There’s no official statement yet, but it seems it came right out of the older Gokonwei’s mouth.

A confident John Gokongwei Jr. thinks Cebu Pacific is ready to go long-haul like fellow low-cost carrier Air Asia of Malaysia, with the taipan aiming to cross the Pacific and launch non-stop flights to the United States West Coast, and possibly onwards to Houston and Chicago, by mid-2009.

But the taipan is quick to admit that he has yet to fully convince his son and Cebu Pacific president, Lance, about the long-haul dream especially how the attendant cost-escalations would impact on the financial model of a single-class, short-haul, quick turn-around budget airline.

Source: Manila Standard Today

Hmmmm, I certainly hope they’d get a bigger plane if they’re going to do long-haul flights. Or at least give more legroom. Or have video on demand (even with pay). *cringe* I can’t imagine being comfortable in their current fleet for flights longer than 5 hours.

The article was fairly interesting, but I perked up when I got to this line:

The Manila-Osaka and Manila-Tokyo routes are also being opened, hopefully in time for the Christmas rush.

Tokyo! Manila – Tokyo! In time for the Christmas rush! *explodes*