For Lance Gokongwei, sky’s the limit

Over lunch recently, Pammy Olivares-Vital, owner of midsized property developer Ovialand, said she is optimistic about the economy.

She’s all smiles and her energy is almost tangible and it’s not because economic managers have given their rosy growth estimates for the year and the coming years; neither is it because of property consultants’ optimistic view on her industry’s future.

Her cue, in fact, has nothing to do with her industry – an order of a hundred-plus airplanes.

Indeed, Pammy’s gauge is one man’s bet on the Philippine growth story – tycoon Lance Gokongwei’s historic P1.4-trillion order of 152 A321neo aircraft for Cebu Pacific, touted as the largest aircraft order in Philippine aviation history.

“If Lance Gokongwei can bet P1.4 trillion, then there’s reason to be optimistic!” Pammy told me.

Thus, Ovialand won’t be slowing down with its expansion as it aims to become a bigger real estate company. But that’s another story I’ll save for another day.

For now, the spotlight indeed is on CEB, which is really betting big on the Philippine economy and its growth prospects.

Who was it who said that life is like a game of poker? “If you don’t put any in the pot, there won’t be any to take out.”

CEB it seems is going all-in after challenging pandemic headwinds slammed the industry. Four years later, the company is optimistic on the Philippines and future prospects, especially for the aviation sector.

Back in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed difficult to see that the skies would ever clear again. Its impact on the airline industry was brutal.

Lance has had to deal with Cebu Air’s losses – a net loss of P24.9 billion in 2021. The pandemic marked one of the worst crises in the Gokongwei Group’s 30-year history.

But Lance stayed the course. Shutting the airline founded by his father John Gokongwei wasn’t an option. “Magagalit si JG,” he told me back then in a phone chat during the early part of the pandemic.

Fast forward to 2024 and here’s post-pandemic CEB not only surviving and thriving but soaring higher with its historic plane order.

At the Farnborough International Air Show this week, CEB, Airbus and Pratt & Whitney held an official ceremony to