Cebu Pacific (CEB), the Philippines’ leading carrier, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with flyadeal, Saudi Arabia’s fast-growing low-cost airline, to explore joint strategic commercial initiatives.
The agreement opens opportunities for collaboration across aircraft operations, maintenance and engineering, and broader commercial planning.
The initial phase will begin with a wet-lease arrangement—where one airline provides aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance to another. Under this setup, two Cebu Pacific Airbus A320 aircraft will operate for flyadeal during Saudi Arabia’s summer travel peak. In turn, Cebu Pacific is evaluating the wet lease of flyadeal A320s to support demand during Southeast Asia’s busy winter period later this year.
The MoU was signed at a joint press conference held in Manila on May 28, with Cebu Pacific Chief Executive Officer Mike Szucs and flyadeal CEO Steven Greenway outlining a phased roadmap for cooperation.
Discussions began earlier this year after Greenway and a flyadeal delegation visited Manila to observe Cebu Pacific’s A330-900neo operations. flyadeal recently announced plans to enter the long-haul market with an order of 10 A330 widebody aircraft, to be deployed between Saudi Arabia and the Philippines, and across Southeast Asia starting in 2027.
“Today’s agreement is momentous as it marks flyadeal’s first ever strategic airline partnership,” Greenway said at the signing ceremony. “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.
“This was the starting point for wide-ranging commercial discussions covering a broad range of areas including more immediate needs of wet-leasing aircraft for flyadeal’s busy upcoming summer season. A win, win situation all round to bring in Cebu Pacific aircraft during our peak period and vice versa for Mike and his team to explore taking our aircraft for their winter peak later this year.”
Szucs added: “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.
“This partnership with flyadeal highlights Cebu Pacific’s growing capability to support international carriers through wet leasing and broader operational collaboration. It diversifies our revenue streams and further expands Cebu Pacific’s presence beyond the Asia Pacific region.”
Both airlines said their teams will continue working closely to define additional areas of cooperation in the months ahead.
For more information on Cebu Pacific, visit cebupacificair.com
