Cebgo

History

The airline was established as SEAir Inc, in 1995 and started operations on the same year. However, its franchise was granted by Congress of the Philippines only on May 13, 2009 through Republic Act No. 9517.

The airline received its corporate registration from the Securities and Exchange Commission on 25 March 1995 mainly to operate aircraft leasing, chartering and few domestic scheduled flights. In May 1995, the airline was registered with the Clark Special Economic Zone to operate services in the Clark-Manila-Subic area and to tourist destinations throughout Luzon and the Visayas regions. It continued expanding its routes and opened a hub in Zamboanga City in 2002.

On 29 September 2006, a deal was announced in which Singapore-based Tigerair would enter a commercial and operational tie-up with SEAIR from February 2007. The tie-up was finally approved in 2008 after protest from four other Philippine airlines. However, due to the unfavorable operating environment, the plan was put into hiatus. Tigerair and SEAir revisited the partnership plan in 2010 and it was officially launched on 16 December 2010. Seats on flights operated by SEAir using two aircraft leased from Tiger were sold and marketed by Tiger for SEAir. Shortly after SEAir and Tigerair launched the partnership, Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Zest Airways, and Air Philippines sent a letter of protest to the Department of Transportation and Communications claiming the partnership between SEAir and Tigerair was illegal and requested the authorities to stop flights operating under the partnership. The Tigerair-SEAir Partnership began with international flights from Clark to Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau. It was then expanded to domestic destination from Manila (NAIA) to Davao and Cebu (slated to launch in July 2011). However, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) ordered the sales of the domestic flight under the partnership to be suspended on 20 May 2011, after receiving complaints from Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific. Since the ban from CAB was lifted in October 2011, the planned domestic flight (between Manila(NAIA) to Davao and Cebu) was scheduled to start in May 2012.

In February 2011, Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd, parent of Tigerair, purchased 32.5% shares of SEAir Inc. They increased the shares to 40% in August 2012.

In December 2012, CAB approved SEAir's application to form SEAir International, a full-service airline focusing on domestic and international leisure destinations, and an independent operation from Seair Inc. which was rebranded as "Tigerair Philippines": "The two carriers have some common shareholders but it is not a unit of the other. Seair-I was formed to take on the turboprop division [of Seair Inc.] which was excluded in the share sale with Tigerair." SEAir Inc was renamed "Tigerair Philippines" on 7 June 2013.

In January 2014, Cebu Pacific Air announced that it was acquiring the entirety of Tigerair Philippines for US$14.5 million by buying all shares.

In May 2015, for the fourth time, Tigerair Philippines rebranded into Cebgo to reflect the relationship between Tigerair Philippines as a wholly owned subsidiary airline of its parent Cebu Pacific Air.

By October 2015, Cebgo returned 5 Airbus A320 to Cebu Pacific and thereafter operated a pure Turboprop fleet of ATR 72 - 500.

Destinations

Cebgo flies to 24 destinations in the Philippines as of September 2016. It operates bases at the airports in Cebu and Manila.

Fleet

As of September 2016, Cebgo operates the following aircraft: