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OWING to the delay in the approval of the lease agreement for two
brand new Airbus aircraft from Tiger Airways, Southeast Asian
Airlines (SEAIR) said it may be unlikely to meet its profit forecast
this year.
Avelino Zapanta, SEAIR president and chief
executive, said the company’s profit this year may grow at the
same level as last year, or P25 million lower than its forecast
because of the delay in the approval of the lease agreement.
“[Before] we [we]re expecting a quadruple income [this year]
because of the new Airbus,” he said.
He said the two new Airbus A320s will further
increase SEAIR’s capacity, allowing it to fly to regional
destinations.
Zapanta had said the company will renegotiate
with Tiger Airways for the lease of two Airbus 320s because the
agreement had lapsed.
“The CAB [Civil Aeronatics Board] has yet to
approve our request. We will formally ask them on the status [of the
agreement],” he said.
In September of last year, SEAIR signed a lease
agreement with Tiger Airways for the two brand-new 180-seater Airbus
A320 aircraft.
Zapanta said SEAIR’s expansion plans have
been derailed for 10 months because of the delay in the approval of
the lease agreement.
Rivals Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, Asian
Spirit and Air Philippines separately filed oppositions to the lease
agreement before the CAB on the ground that SEAIR is being used by
Tiger Airways to access domestic operations.
Zapanta refuted the allegations noting that the
tie up with the Singaporean budget airline is only a business
relationship, whereby SEAIR will lease two aircraft from Tiger
Airways.
The new aircraft will be used to fly the
Singapore and Macau routes from Clark and are expected to double
passenger traffic from 225,000.
Zapanta also said that SEAIR plans to fly to
Korea, Taiwan and Japan. At present, the airline has 11 aircraft, of
which four are Dornier 328s and seven Let 410 UVP-Es.
SEAIR flies 18 routes including tourist
destinations such as Caticlan (Boracay) and Cebu in the Visayas;
Clark in Northern Luzon; Busuanga, Cuyo, El Nido, Puerto Princesa
and Rodriguez in Palawan Province; and Camiguin, Cotobato, Zamboanga,
Jolo, Tawi-Tawi in Mindanao.
--Darwin G. Amojelar
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