LOW-cost carrier Cebu Air Inc. yesterday reported a net loss of P1.183 billion for the first quarter of the year, compared with the P3.356 billion net income earned in the same period last year, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The company, which operates Cebu Pacific, said revenues declined by 24.9 percent to P15.9 billion in the first quarter, from the P21.1 billion posted last year, as revenues across its passenger, cargo and ancillary businesses fell.
Passenger revenues three months into the year dropped 27.4 percent to P11.4 billion, from P15.7 billion a year ago, as the airline group posted a 16.5 percent drop in passenger traffic from 5.3 million to 4.4 million, driven by lesser number of flights by 14.7 percent, coupled with a 2.9 percentage points decrease in seat load factor from 84.2 percent to 81.3 percent.
Cargo revenues fell by 29.7 percent to P1.013 billion in January to March, from P1.442 billion in the same period last year, following the decrease in cargo volume transported in 2020 by 20 percent consequent to reduced flight operations plus the effect of a lower cargo yield by about 12.2 percent.
Ancillary revenues also declined by 13.4 percent to P3.5 billion in the first quarter, from the P4.02 billion reported a year ago, mainly due to lesser passenger volume and flight activity during the quarter, slightly offset by the increase in average ancillary revenue per passenger by 3.7 percent.
“The overall decline in revenues was brought about by the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak which started with cancellation of flights to China, Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea in varying periods during the quarter due to the imposition of travel restrictions,” Cebu Pacific said.
With the rapid escalation of the situation surrounding the COVID-19, the Philippine government implemented enhanced community quarantine over the entire Luzon, which then prompted Cebu Pacific to suspend all its scheduled flights beginning March 19, 2020.
Cebu Pacific incurred operating expenses of P16.6 billion in the first three months, down 4.2 percent from the P17.3 billion reported in the same period last year.
It said the decline is primarily driven by the suspension of its operations due to the coronavirus global pandemic since a material portion of its expenses are based on flights and flight hours.
As of March 31, Cebu Pacific operates a fleet of 76 aircraft comprising 30 Airbus A320, seven Airbus A321 CEO, five Airbus A320 NEO, five Airbus A321 NEO, eight Airbus A330, eight ATR 72-500 and 13 ATR 72-600.
It operates its Airbus aircraft on both domestic and international routes and the ATR 72-500 and ATR 72-600 aircraft on domestic routes, including destinations with runway limitations.
The average aircraft age of the group’s fleet is approximately 5.18 years, as of March 31, 2020.
