To make room for larger passenger planes at the country’s busiest airport.
In an announcement on Thursday, January 22, budget carrier Cebu Pacific announced that it is officially ceasing its turboprop operations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) effective March 29, 2026.
The said move is in accordance with the resolution of the Department of Transportation’s Manila Slot Coordination Committee, with the final phase seeing the remaining flights using the smaller plane type move to Clark International Airport in Pampanga.
The list includes flights of its regional service Cebgo and the boutique airline AirSwift, with both operating flights out of NAIA Terminal 2.
Affected CebGo flights are its Manila – Coron (Busuanga) – Manila (which have the codes DG 6051/52 and DG 6055/56), and Manila – Naga – Manila (DG 6113/14).
These will both be converted to Clark – Coron (Busuanga) – Clark (DG 6053/54 and DG 6057/58), and Clark – Naga – Clark (DG 6129/30).
Meanwhile, affected on the part of AirSwift are all its flight between Manila and El Nido in Palawan. Set to end on March 29 are its flights with the codes T6 110/149, T6 112/113, T6 114/111, T6 126/127, T6 142/143, T6 148/147, and T6 172/173.
These will be replaced with Clark – El Nido – Clark flights with new codes: T6 5209/08, T6 5211/10, T6 5213/12, T6 5215/14, T6 5217/16, and T6 5219/18.
The carrier noted that passengers that have booked for dates beyond March 29 will be automatically transferred from Clark. However, they advised those that wish a different arrangement to avail of the options provided by the airline through the Manage Booking Portal on its website.
The Manila Slot Coordination Committee had previously mandated companies with turboprop planes to gradually phase its operations out of the Manila airport, which had already begun with the initial 30% reduction of flights in late March 2025.
Since then, the airline, as well as PAL Express of Philippine Airlines, have gradually moved their turboprop operations to Clark as part of the sweeping changes at NAIA.
It is part of the bigger plans to accommodate more flights and much larger planes per hour to 48, up from the current 40.
Turboprop, a type of aircraft that Cebgo uses, typically carries only around 60 passengers.