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Melbourne Airport has declared it has shifted from recovering from COVID-19 to growth after adding yet another new international flight.
Cebu Pacific will increase its flights to Manila from three to four times weekly in December, using its fleet of A330-900neos.
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It comes after the Victorian airport’s passenger traffic hit 96 per cent of 2019 levels during the last full financial year.
The additional service will also take capacity in the Philippines market above pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
“Since the pandemic we’ve seen South-east Asia emerge as one of our best performing markets, with three of the four fastest growth countries coming from that region,” said Melbourne Airport’s chief of aviation, Jim Parashos.
“The Philippines has seen a 43 per cent growth in passengers since the pandemic, while key markets such as Vietnam and Thailand have recorded 60 per cent and 25 per cent growth respectively.
“Since resuming operations at Melbourne Airport in March last year, Cebu Pacific has seen strong two-way demand for the service underpinned by international students, trade and tourism.
“The number of international students from the Philippines coming to Australia to study has doubled since 2019. Due to the high demand, we are working with Cebu Pacific to increase this service further and are hopeful they will move to five flights a week in the not-too-distant future.
“The international market at Melbourne Airport has shifted firmly from recovery to growth, and these services will solidify that position.”
Cebu competes on the route against rival Philippine Airlines, which flies five times weekly.
However, the carrier currently wet leases the service to Wamos Air, a Spanish charter airline. This temporary agreement took effect on 1 June.
Last month, Australian Aviation reported that Melbourne saw a total of 35,127,967 travellers pass through its terminals in FY24, up 14 per cent on the previous financial year.
“The past year has been one of steady growth. We have almost returned to pre-pandemic levels as well as continued to work hard to introduce new airlines, new routes, more capacity and more choice for travellers,” said CEO Lorie Argus.
“We became the first capital city airport in the nation to exceed pre-pandemic international capacity, and we have seen huge growth in markets such as Vietnam and India thanks to liberalised bilateral agreements allowing existing airlines to expand operations while also enabling new airlines to enter the market.
“We’ve also been investing heavily in infrastructure so that we can meet future growth. We’re upgrading our terminals to improve the passenger experience, improving our road network to reduce congestion and planning for a third runway.”
