Cebu Pacific Air Opens Japan Office, Eyes Flights to Tohoku, Hokkaido

Tokyo, May 16 (Jiji Press)--Philippine low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific Air opened a Japan branch office in Tokyo on Wednesday, looking to expand its route network to cover the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan and the northern prefecture of Hokkaido. The airline believes that the Japanese LCC market has great potential for growth, with the number of Japanese visitors to the Southeast Asian country rising 5 to 10 pct year on year recently. The Philippine budget carrier currently runs flights between Manila and Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka and between Cebu and Tokyo. At a press conference, Tomohiko Matsumoto, head of the Japan office, said the airline is considering extending its network to Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, among others. Since launching in 1996, Cebu Pacific Air has become the Philippines' largest carrier in terms of the number of passengers. The company expects its passengers to increase 12 pct from the previous year to total 22 million this year. END