Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific Inc. (CEB) is optimistic about its second quarter operations driven by the sustained passenger growth in both domestic and international flights.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on April 15, CEB said it tallied 2.2 million passengers in March, higher by 19 percent than the 1.85 million passengers served in the same period last year.
However, seat load factor (SLF) fell slightly to 81 percent from 82 percent last year, while seat capacity grew by 19 percent, the airline added.
“Despite the shift of Easter from March of last year into April of this year, the traffic growth and seat load factors remained robust for both domestic and international networks. For the first quarter, overall, we have registered increases in load factor while growing capacity at circa 25pct. This reinforces our positive outlook for the second quarter of this year,” said Xander Lao, CEB president and chief commercial officer.
Year-to-date, CEB’s passengers grew to 7 million, up by 26.3 percent from 5.5 million in 2024. Domestic passenger volume rose 28 percent to 5.2 million, while international passenger volume grew 22 percent to 1.8 million. SLF averaged 85 percent, while overall capacity in seats grew 25 percent to 8.2 million, the airline said.
Last year, CEB’s revenue jumped 15 percent to P98.19 billion from P85.09 billion in 2023, primarily driven by the increase in passenger and ancillary revenues.
However, the airline reported a sharp decline in net income for 2024 at P2.64 billion from P8.34 billion in 2023, due to higher operational costs.
