Cebu Pacific flew 2.8M people in Q3, will serve 12M passengers by yearend

MANILA, Philippines—The Gokongwei-led Cebu Air Inc., operator of budget airline Cebu Pacific, grew its passenger volumes by over a tenth in the third quarter of 2011, keeping it on track to meeting its full-year goal of serving 12 million people.

In a statement, the airline flew almost 2.8 million passengers from July to September 2011, up by 12 percent year-on-year. This was driven by the 22-percent increase in the company’s international operations.  From January to September, CEB had already flown over 8.7 million passengers.

“The number of passengers grew faster than Cebu Pacific’s seat capacity in Q3 2011, so we are very happy with our growth on a traditionally lean travel season domestically,” Cebu Pacific vice-president for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog said.

“We expect these figures to surge further upward with long holidays, more flights and four new Airbus A320 aircraft that enter into service in the 4th quarter of this year,” she added.

The company also boasted of an 84-percent load factor, referring to the number of seats filled on each flight.

Passengers to and from Taiwan grew by 60 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of the year, while passengers to and from Vietnam grew by 56 percent. Traffic to and from South Korea also grew by 58 percent year-on-year in three-month period, as the airline now flies from both Manila and Cebu to Incheon (Seoul) and Busan.

“We just opened 2 new domestic routes, and announced additional international flights starting January 2012. Cebu Pacific’s passengers can continue to expect more of our trademark low fares, ever-expanding network and young aircraft fleet in their travels,” she said.

Cebu Pacific currently operates 10 Airbus A319, 17 Airbus A320 and 8 ATR-72 500 aircraft. By the end of 2011, CEB will be operating a fleet of 37 aircraft – with an average age of less than 3.5 years – one of the most modern aircraft fleets in the world.

Between 2012 and 2021, Cebu Pacific will take in 23 Airbus A320 and 30 Airbus A321neo aircraft orders, and two Airbus A320 aircraft on operating lease agreements. The airline is currently the leading carrier in the Philippines based on the number of passengers served.