CebuPac reports 11.4% growth in passengers

Cebu Pacific Air, the country’s biggest budget carrier, said passenger traffic in the first eight months of the year rose by 11.4 percent to 9.82 million, given double-digit gains in both domestic and international segments.

Figures provided by the company on its website showed that international passenger traffic grew by 12.3 percent to 2.26 million while domestic air travel also gained 11.1 percent to 7.56 million. The airline grew seats by 8.9 percent to 11.73 million during the period.

Growth was faster in August, the data showed, with total passenger traffic jumping 24.9 percent to 1.21 million. During the period, international traffic grew by 25.6 percent to 287,950 while domestic travel also rose 24.7 percent to 921,036.

Seat load factor also inched up to 83.8 percent from 81.9 percent for January to August.

The airline earlier reported that its local business has been growing fast in its Visayas hubs.

From January to August 2013, the number of passengers through the airline’s Iloilo hub went up by 33 percent, while guests to and from its Cebu hub increased by 15 percent, it said in a previous statement.

Cebu remains the airline’s second largest hub, with more than 2.3 million Cebu Pacific passengers passing through the Mactan-Cebu International Airport   in the first eight months of the year.