CEBU PACIFIC expects passenger growth in the second quarter after carrying over six million passengers in the first three months of the year, the airline said on Tuesday.
For the January-to-March period, Cebu Pacific, operated by Cebu Air, Inc., logged a total of 6.95 million passengers, up by 26.36% from 5.50 million passengers in the first quarter of 2024.
“Despite the shift of Easter from March of last year to April this year, the traffic growth and seat load factors remained robust for both domestic and international networks,” Cebu Pacific President and Chief Commercial Officer Alexander G. Lao said in a media release on Tuesday.
“For the first quarter, overall, we have registered increases in load factor while growing capacity by approximately 25%. This reinforces our positive outlook for the second quarter of this year.”
Both its domestic and international passenger volumes saw an increase for the quarter, with domestic passenger volume growing by 27.9% to 5.18 million, while its international passenger count climbed by 21.8% to 1.77 million.
The airline said it ended the first quarter with a seating capacity of 8.19 million, up by 24.8%, while its seat load factor, or capacity utilization of available seats, reached 84.9% for the first quarter.
Last month alone, the budget airline recorded a total of 2.21 million passengers, marking an increase of 18.82% from 1.86 million passengers in the comparable period a year ago.
To date, Cebu Pacific operates in 37 domestic and 26 international destinations in Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.
Earlier this year, Cebu Pacific announced several route launches, including direct flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Cebu by the second quarter, expansion of its Clark hub, and the launch of direct flights between Iloilo and Bangkok.
At the local bourse on Tuesday, shares in Cebu Air closed 10 centavos, or 0.29% higher, at P34 apiece. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
