By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad
The operator of Cebu Pacific flew back to profitability in the first quarter of 2023, the first time since COVID-19 restrictions grounded flights, as travel confidence returned.
The budget carrier has traversed clearer skies after registering a net income of P1.08 billion in the first three months, a turnaround from the P7.61-billion net loss in the same period last year.
During the first year of the pandemic, Cebu Air Inc. incurred a net loss of P22.24 billion, reversing the P9.12-billion net income the year prior. Business has slowly picked up quarter after quarter as air travel resumed in phases.
In a disclosure, the Gokongwei-led company reported revenues of P20.88 billion for the first quarter of 2023, which was three times more than P6.71 billion it booked previously.
These were mostly accounted for by passenger revenues, which went up by 351.9 percent to P14.28 billion from P3.16 billion. Passenger volume more than doubled to 4.8 million. Seat load factor, or the available seats an airline was able to sell during a given period, was up 13 percentage points to 83 percent. Cargo business revenues dipped by 38.7 percent to P1.13 billion while ancillary revenues improved by 221 percent to P5.46 billion.
Flying operation expenses soared by 139 percent to P8.24 billion, mainly due to higher fuel consumption. It operated 32,000 flights, nearly double the number during the same period last year.
The low-cost carrier has a route network comprising 60 domestic and 29 international destinations using a 73-aircraft fleet.
Cebu Pacific has resumed flights to Melbourne and Macau during the quarter in review. Its domestic network is now more than 100 percent of prepandemic capacity and it expects to further increase the frequency of its local routes.
The airline recently took delivery of its 10th Airbus 320neo. The budget carrier is expecting to receive eight more Airbus neo units.
“Cebu Pacific expects that in the second quarter, it will exceed its prepandemic capacity on a system-wide basis, supported by an optimistic outlook as the tourism industry continues to recover, plus the strengthening of its Clark and Cebu hubs,” the company said.
