Cebu Pacific sale of 10 used aircraft to US budget carrier falls through

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA - The operator of Cebu Pacific has terminated its plan to sell 10 Airbus aircraft to a US-based budget carrier after they failed to agree on certain conditions of the sale.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Cebu Air Inc. said its proposed transaction to sell 10 A319 aircraft to Allegiant Travel Co has been terminated.
Allegiant Travel owns low-cost carrier Allegiant Air.
The potential transaction was made public on July 30 last year after the signing of a letter of intent.
The delivery of the A319 aircraft to Allegiant Travel is supposed to be done over a 15 month period starting March 2013.
“It is unfortunate that we were not able to finalize the sale agreement. We have been unable to agree on certain conditions that would have made the transaction workable, both operationally and financially,” Lance Y. Gokongwei, president and chief executive of Cebu Pacific said.
"Without the A319 sale, our current fleet expansion plan, which includes delivery of 8 Airbus A320 aircraft over the next 2 years, will enable us to grow seat capacity by an average of 10-15 percent per year, which is in line with our demand outlook for air travel in the Philippines, allowing Cebu Pacific the flexibility to accommodate the growing demand for air travel in the Philippines.” Gokongwei said.
Cebu Pacific earlier said it will take delivery of 15 brand new A320 and 4 A330 aircraft between 2012 and 2014 for its expansion plan.
The airline is slated to begin its long-haul service in the third quarter of this year, with the delivery of up to eight A330 aircraft.
The A330 can fly for 11 hours, which means Cebu Pacific could serve markets such as Australia, the Middle East, parts of Europe and the US.
Cebu Pacific operates 10 A319s, 20 A320s and 8 ATR-72 500 aircraft. Its fleet of 38 aircraft – with an average age of 3.6 years – is the largest in the Philippines.
Between 2012 and 2021, Cebu Pacific will take delivery of 22 more A320s and 30 A321neo aircraft orders.