Philippine low-cost giant Cebu Pacific (CEB) and Saudi Arabia’s fastest-growing budget airline flyadeal have entered into a landmark strategic partnership aimed at strengthening their operations through a wet-lease agreement and broader commercial cooperation.
The two carriers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during a joint press conference held in Manila, with Cebu Pacific CEO Mike Szucs and flyadeal CEO Steven Greenway outlining their ambitious plans. The initial phase of the collaboration will see flyadeal wet-lease two Airbus A320 aircraft from Cebu Pacific to bolster its operations during Saudi Arabia’s busy summer travel season.
In a reciprocal move, Cebu Pacific is also exploring the possibility of wet-leasing flyadeal’s A320 aircraft during Southeast Asia’s winter peak travel period later this year. Both airlines emphasized that the wet-lease arrangement is only the beginning of a broader cooperation that will extend into maintenance, engineering, training, and the sharing of operational best practices.
“Today’s agreement is momentous as it marks flyadeal’s first ever strategic airline partnership. It was clear and obvious that flyadeal could learn a lot from Cebu Pacific’s experience of low-cost long-haul operations given we will be inducting the same A330-900neos into our fleet in just two years’ time. There are great benefits in sharing technical knowledge, training, and best practice in preparation for our A330 induction and, of course, we are both A320 operators,” said Greenway.
The flyadeal boss’ visit to Manila earlier this year laid the groundwork for the MoU, as flyadeal evaluated Cebu Pacific’s low-cost long-haul model, especially the A330neo operations.
For Cebu Pacific, the partnership opens up new opportunities to optimize aircraft utilization. “With Cebu Pacific’s growing fleet, we seek to maximize the potential of our increased capacity through all months of the year. The utilization of our capacity by other carriers during our lean season is a way of achieving that,” Szucs explained.
The two CEOs confirmed that their respective teams will continue working closely in the coming months to map out further collaboration areas, including potential future codeshare agreements and joint operational initiatives.
The Cebu Pacific–flyadeal agreement not only strengthens ties between Southeast Asia and the Middle East but also highlights the growing trend of collaboration among low-cost carriers seeking to optimize resources and expand market reach.