AirAsia plans to significantly expand its services out of Cebu, describing the move as a “comeback” to its Philippines hub.
In mid-November, AirAsia will reopen three domestic services from Cebu, namely Cebu–Davao, Cebu–Caticlan and Cebu–Iloilo.
These services will operate 18 times weekly, eleven times weekly and four times weekly, respectively.
In turn, the new domestic services will support the return of a Cebu–Kuala Lumpur service (14 times weekly) and the launch of Cebu-Macao service (three times weekly).
Amanda Woo, chief commercial officer at AirAsia Aviation Group, said Cebu will be the “cornerstone” of the next phase of growth for AirAsia in the Philippines.
“By linking domestic feeders into international gateways like Macao and Kuala Lumpur, we are creating a stronger bridge between local communities and the wider region,” she said.
“Through Kuala Lumpur alone, travellers from Cebu can seamlessly connect to more than 3,500 routes across Asia and beyond.”
In addition to Kuala Lumpur and Macao, AirAsia is also planning to open other international routes out of Cebu.
The plans align with its ambition to become the “world’s first low-cost network carrier”, the company added.
At the same time, the group's medium-haul arm, AirAsia X, is still putting the finishing touches to a deal that will see it acquire the group's entire airline business from Capital A, AirAsia's parent company.
As covered by Airline Economics, the closing of the transaction has been postponed several times in 2025, and remains unclosed, as of the time of writing.
From 2020 to 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, major losses across the group led AirAsia X to suspend its operations and undergo a debt restructuring process.