Cebu Pacific, one of the Philippines' largest low-cost carriers, is resuming international flights out of Davao City beginning this October as it reinstates routes to Hong Kong and Bangkok, a move that restores international connectivity to the country's largest metropolitan area outside Manila.

In a media release issued on Thursday, the airline announced that it will restart direct flights from Davao to Hong Kong on October 25 and to Bangkok via Don Mueang International Airport on October 26. Davao City, located on the southern island of Mindanao, is served by Francisco Bangoy International Airport, also known as Davao International Airport. The airport has historically offered limited international service compared with Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which handles the bulk of the Philippines' overseas air traffic. Don Mueang is a major Bangkok airport that primarily handles low-cost carrier traffic and serves as a hub for several budget airlines across Asia.

The Davao–Hong Kong route will operate four times weekly — every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday — while the Davao–Bangkok service will run three times weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Alongside the international relaunch, Cebu Pacific is expanding selected domestic routes from Davao. Flights between Davao and Siargao, a popular surf-tourism destination in the Philippines, will increase to ten times weekly, while Davao–Iloilo service — connecting Mindanao with a key city in the Western Visayas region — will rise to fourteen times weekly.

The network adjustments come as Cebu Air, Inc., the publicly listed operator of Cebu Pacific, reported a challenging second quarter. For the three months ended June, the carrier posted an attributable net loss of P5.49 billion, a reversal from attributable net income of P8.51 billion in the same period a year earlier, as operating costs outpaced top-line growth. Philippine airlines have faced elevated operating costs driven in part by fuel prices and a weaker peso against the US dollar, factors that affect carriers across the Southeast Asian region.

Revenue rose 7.1% to P35.24 billion from P32.91 billion a year earlier. Operating expenses, however, surged 40.9% to P37.97 billion from P26.95 billion. Flying operations expenses more than doubled, reaching P20.25 billion compared with P9.81 billion in the prior-year quarter.

On the traffic front, Cebu Pacific carried more passengers in the first half of the year. For the six months ended June, domestic passenger traffic increased 4.92% to 10.87 million from 10.36 million in the same period last year. International passenger traffic rose 2.25% to 3.63 million from 3.55 million a year earlier.

At the Philippine Stock Exchange, shares of Cebu Air closed unchanged at P28.65 apiece.

— Ashley Erika O. Jose