Cebu Pacific flew 18.1M passengers as of August, up 15%

Cebu Pacific continues to benefit from Filipinos’ desire to travel —PHOTO FROM CEBU PACIFIC WEBSITE

Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific saw its passenger volume rise by 15.2 percent in the first eight months, as travel demand has remained robust.

The Gokongwei-led airline said Monday that it carried 18.1 million flyers from January, up from 15.7 million passengers in the same period last year.

Domestic travelers continued to account for the bulk of the figure, reaching 13.5 million. International passengers, meanwhile, rose to 4.6 million.

Seat load factor, which measures the percentage of available seating occupied by paying passengers, averaged 85.2 percent during the period, while overall seat capacity jumped 15 percent to 21.3 million.

The company, however, posted a slightly weaker passenger volume of 2.1 million in August alone, down by just 0.4 percent from last year.

“The softer year-on-year traffic in August reflects the usual lean travel season in the Philippines, particularly for domestic routes, while international passenger growth remained strong. We see this as an expected and temporary dip,” Mike Szucs, chief executive officer of Cebu Pacific, said in a disclosure Monday.

“We moderated our domestic capacity growth in August due to some unscheduled engine removals, the flyadeal wet-lease, and scheduled maintenance events in preparation for the busy holiday months. These actions enable our capacity to be optimized so that we can deliver higher growth in the fourth quarter…,” the official added.

Szucs was bullish that Cebu Pacific’s passenger numbers would bounce back in the fourth quarter, considered the peak travel season.

The firm has been boosting its network, launching more flights to key domestic and foreign routes.

Currently, Cebu Pacific flies to 37 domestic and 26 international destinations across Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.

It has a fleet of 99 aircraft.

In the first six months, Cebu Pacific saw its bottom line soar by 153 percent to P8.97 billion on stronger passenger growth. Total revenues also improved by 23 percent to P63.3 billion.