Phoenix Adarna takes flight with Cebu Pacific

A mobile game–themed flight from budget carrier Cebu Pacific and Tencent Games, a China-based game publisher, features Phoenix Adarna, a PUBG Mobile character inspired by the mythical bird of the same name from Philippine literature.

Flight 5J 573, a Manila-to-Cebu flight that departs on June 15, will be assisted and crewed by personnel wearing costumes inspired by Phoenix Adarna and other PUBG Mobile characters.

“Tencent Games and PUBG Mobile have always wanted to partner with an airline company especially since aircrafts are recurring elements within our game,” said Noel Bernard N. Dalmacio, senior business development manager of Tencent Games Philippines, in an e-mail to BusinessWorld.

“We hope that, through this partnership, our game can be a platform to promote Filipino culture and tourism to our young audience,” he said. “We definitely foresee more collaborations with Cebu Pacific in the future — perhaps even taking the partnership higher in terms of offerings and unique experiences we’ll provide to both our markets.”

The themed flight — a first in Philippine aviation, according to Mr. Dalmacio — includes trivia games and limited-edition PUBG Mobile x Cebu Pacific merchandise.

PUBG Mobile is a freemium game that has over 5 million registered users, with around 500,000 daily active users in the Philippines. It has more than 500 million downloads worldwide.

The details of the mobile game-themed flight are subject to change without prior notice. — Patricia B. Mirasol