Cebu Pac books 2-digit passenger growth in 10 mos

MANILA, Philippines - Listed budget airline Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific) booked a double-digit growth in the volume of passengers in the first 10 months as the low cost carrier is likely to meet its target of servicing 15 million passengers this year.

Operating statistics of Cebu Pacific showed that the airline flew 12.04 million passengers from January to October this year or 10.8 percent higher compared to 10.87 million in the same period last year.

Data showed the number of domestic passengers grew 10.2 percent to 9.28 million from January to October this year while the number of international passengers grew faster at 12.8 percent to 2.76 million.

On the other hand, the airline’s seat capacity expanded 10.4 percent to 14.64 million with the arrival of new Airbus aircraft translating to a higher load factor of 82.3 percent in the first 10 months of the year.

For the month of October alone, passenger volume inched up 3.3 percent to 1.13 million as the number of domestic passengers was flat at 875,398 while number of international passengers jumped 13.6 percent to 260,040.

Cebu Pacific hopes to serve 15 million passengers this year especially with the start of the Christmas season after a slowdown amid its two aircraft incidents last June.

Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog said the airline’s low fares continued to fuel the double digit growth in domestic and international passengers.

 â€œThis is mostly due to continued stimulation through low fares,” Iyog said in a text message earlier.

She also cited the higher number of flights brought about by the ongoing refleeting program of the airline with the delivery of its first Airbus A330 in June and two A320 aircraft equipped with “sharklets” in July.

Cebu Pacific has a fleet of 47 aircraft that is one of the most modern aircraft fleets in the world. This consists of 10 Airbus A319, 27 Airbus A320, two Airbus A330 and eight ATR-72 500 aircraft.

The low cost carrier is in the middle of a $4 billion refleeting program involving the acquisition of 49 brand new Airbus aircraft. Between 2013 and 2021, Cebu Pacific is scheduled to take delivery of 15 more brand-new Airbus A320, 30 A321neo, and four A330 aircraft.