BIZ BUZZ: Lend me your wings
What if there’s a marketplace for an airline operator to lease out its excess planes that would otherwise just be idly parked somewhere during the lean season? Something like how Uber, Grab and AirBnB allow owners to monetize usage of idle cars or vacation homes.
There’s no platform yet, but bilateral deals may arise.
If there is a carrier whose lean season coincides with another’s peak season, won’t it make sense to lend wings to each other during those specific months?
This is precisely why Gokongwei-led Cebu Pacific has inked a deal to lease out aircraft (including the entire crew and maintenance team) to Saudi Arabian carrier Flyadeal.
It’s an “elegant solution to manage the lean season for flying,” Cebu Pacific CEO Mike Szucs said in a press chat with editors on Wednesday.
For Cebu Pacific, which generates 70 percent of its business from domestic travel, the lean season is third quarter of every year. When the rains come, Pinoys lose appetite to travel.
But for Flyadeal, the same quarter is its peak season (like in Europe). It’s also literally the hottest season in Saudi, when travelers fly in search of cooler destinations.
Although the deal involves just two aircraft for now, Cebu Pacific is in the midst of a P1.4-trillion refleeting, which means there would be excess capacity in the coming years. This initial two-month deal allows Cebu Pacific to “go through the hoops with regulators and look to expand beyond it,” Szucs said.
No, Cebu Pacific had not thought about this when it first announced its jumbo refleeting in 2024. The idea came out only last February during an informal dinner.
Flyadeal CEO Steven Greenway, whom Szucs has known for years, visited Cebu Pacific with his technical team to inquire about the local carrier’s experience with A330 Neo aircraft in an all-economy class configuration. Over dinner, they talked about many things. When the conversation veered toward the high and low seasons, they found out that they are a good match for leasing excess wings.
“You could often say great strategies, great planning. But sometimes, it pays to be fortunate. And this is one of those occasions when we just sort of stumbled on it,” Szucs said.
