Cebu Pacific Air suspended its loss-making Singapore-Manila route in January 2003, barely three months after launching it, but is now planning a comeback, industry sources told The Straits Times.

Its first flight will land at the terminal in July or August, the reports said.
Plans are to start new routes to Singapore and Bangkok.

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said that talks were going on with the carrier and several other airlines about using the new terminal, designed for low cost carriers, which opened in March.

The sole user currently is the Singapore Airlines-backed Tiger Airways.

Started in 1996, Cebu Pacific Air now flies to 16 destinations in the Philippines and has two international routes, to Hong Kong and Seoul.

''We are looking at several operations, including Singapore, and will see which terminal best meets our needs,'' a spokesman for the airline in Manila was quoted as saying.

Changi's new terminal promises to cut by up to half the operating costs of airlines, as compared with the main airport terminal, only a short shuttle-bus ride away.

Passengers also pay a lower departure tax if leaving from the terminal.