Cebu Pacific passenger volume soared 24% as of May
Cebu Pacific, whose aircraft are packed with more guests given the high travel demand, saw its passenger volume grow by nearly 24 percent in the first five months.
The budget carrier, in a statement on Friday, reported that it flew 11.67 million passengers in January to May, up from 9.44 million passengers in the same period last year.
Broken down, domestic passengers accounted for 8.68 million of the total volume, showing a 23.2-percent uptick from the previous year. International passenger volume, meanwhile, grew by 24.9 percent to 2.99 million.
In May alone, total traffic rose by about 22 percent to 2.44 million passengers.
“Passenger traffic continued to see high year-on-year growth through the first five months of 2025,” said Mike Szucs, CEO of the Gokongwei-led airline.
“Seat load factor is tracking ahead of last year reflecting robust air travel as additional capacity continues to be absorbed by demand,” he added.
Passenger load factor measures the percentage of available seating capacity in an aircraft. A higher figure means higher occupancy or more tickets sold.
In January to May, Cebu Pacific saw a seat load factor of 85 percent, higher than last year’s 84.6 percent.
This, as passenger capacity increased by 23.1 percent to 13,731 as of end-May.
The low-cost airline estimated its passenger volume to grow by 20 percent this year after servicing 24.5 million guests in 2024. Cebu Pacific has positioned itself for growth after launching 24 new domestic and international routes in the past year.
In January, it flew the inaugural Manila to Sapporo flight, allowing Cebu Pacific to have the biggest network linking the country to Japan.
The carrier also started operating its Cebu-Ho Chi Minh flights in April.
To beef up capacity, Cebu Pacific is set to take delivery of seven aircraft this year. It received 17 new aircraft in 2024.
The airline’s overall network caters to 37 domestic and 26 international destinations across Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
