Cebu Pacific said Tuesday it signed two agreements covering aircraft engine maintenance, operations control and air management solutions as part of the airlines’ ambitious growth plans.
The Gokongwei-led airline and Pratt & Whitney, an RTX business, signed a long-term EngineWise comprehensive maintenance services agreement for the airline’s GTF engine fleet. This aligns Cebu Pacific’s maintenance costs to the utilization of the airline’s engines.
“The agreement reflects our ongoing collaboration with Cebu Pacific to optimize the reliability and efficiency of their fleet,” said Rick Deurloo, president of commercial engines at Pratt & Whitney.
“It underscores our commitment to enabling our customer’s network expansion and growth,” he said.
The 12-year agreement provides comprehensive support for the GTF engines Cebu Pacific ordered in 2024. This includes the historic order of engines for up to 152 A321neo aircraft announced in July 2024, along with the engines for the 15 A320 family aircraft that was announced in February 2024. Darwin G. Amojelar
Through Pratt & Whitney’s fleet management programs, the airline gains access to technical expertise, fleet data, and business intelligence – ensuring greater transparency and predictability in maintenance planning.
“Maintaining the performance and efficiency of our fleet is a top priority,” said Mike Szucs, chief executive officer of Cebu Pacific.
“The GTF engine has enabled up to 20-percent reduction in fuel burn compared to previous-generation engines – translating into meaningful savings in fuel efficiency, lower emissions and reduced operating costs. This agreement strengthens our ability to scale sustainably while continuing to deliver on our commitments to passengers,” he said.
Cebu Pacific operates 56 Pratt & Whitney powered aircraft. Prior to GTF engines, Pratt & Whitney supplied JT8D engines for the airline’s DC-9 aircraft fleet. Pratt & Whitney and Cebu Pacific’s relationship extends back to the 1990s.
Cebu Pacific also signed an agreement with Lufthansa Systems to implement their next-generation operations control and crew management solution – a key step in supporting the airlines ambitious growth plans.
The NetLine suite from Lufthansa Systems was chosen for its advanced capabilities in flight operations, crew planning, rostering, and real-time disruption management.
The operations control system collects and evaluates a wide range of data, such as weather conditions, airspace constraints and aircraft performance, alerting the operations control team to situations with potential operational, crew, or customer impact, enabling proactive measures to mitigate and resolve disruptions.
The crew management solution, supported by the aviation technology firm ROIS/Pi, leverages machine learning and high-speed optimization to shorten rostering cycles, deliver robust resource planning, and support a more balanced and predictable crew experience.
“This partnership is central to enabling the scaling of our operations. We’re investing in the internal infrastructure with world-class systems that will enhance safety, operational resilience, efficiency and crew wellbeing as we grow our fleet and expand our network across the region. This is all about preparing Cebu Pacific to capture the outstanding opportunity that presents itself both in the Philippines and across the broader Asian market,” Szücs said.
“We are proud to support Cebu Pacific’s ambitious vision. Together, we’re building a scalable, future-ready operations platform,” said Stefanie Neumann, chief executive of Lufthansa Systems.
The implementation will begin this year, laying the foundation for a world-class, fully integrated operations platform that empowers Cebu Pacific to scale with confidence from fleet and resource planning and pre-operations, through to the live day-of-operations management.
