Philippine budget carrier mounts first flight to Beijing

Philippine budget carrier Cebu Pacific made its maiden flight to Beijing Sunday, making it the second Philippine airline to serve the route.

The maiden flight took off Sunday night from Manila at 7:35 p.m. , and arrived in the Chinese capital Monday morning at 12:05 a.m.

The inaugural flight's load factor, or the number of passengers on a flight relative to the number of seats available, was at 70 percent.

"Cebu Pacific offers the lowest fare alternative from the Philippines to Beijing, so we are very optimistic about our Beijing operations," Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific's vice-president for marketing and distribution, said in a statement.

Beijing is Cebu Pacific's 16th international destination in its network, and third international destination in China. The airline operates Manila to Beijing flights every Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday, and Beijing-Manila flights every Monday, Wednesday and Sunday.

Cebu Pacific also flies to Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao.

Source:Xinhua