Cebu Air and its wholly owned subsidiary Cebgo, Inc. flew 5.1% more passengers in the first ten months of the year, as the budget carrier increased its load factor and added new planes.As of end-October, however, the tally showed passenger volume of 1.519 million, lower by 3% against the 1.566 million last year, amid lesser seat capacity, load factor and number of flights during the period.
The group ferried a total of 15.996 million passengers from January to October from the 15.218 million recorded during the same period in 2015, according to the latest operating statistics uploaded on its Web site.
Seat load factor in the 10 months to October stood at 85.9% compared to the 81.8% seen during the comparable period last year.
Cebu Pacific mounted 110,467 flights from 111,091. The airline currently operates across 36 local and 30 international destinations with a fleet of 58 aircraft.
Cebu Air President and Chief Executive Officer Lance Y. Gokongwei had said the budget carrier is seen flying 19 million passengers this year, a record passenger volume, driven by the airline’s low-cost, long-haul services and increased frequencies in key domestic markets from 18.4 million passengers in 2015 and also up from the 16.9 million passengers flown in 2014.
The airline is targeting to ferry 20 million passengers next year, as the company expect the delivery of 48 additional planes in the next five years to 2021.
Cebu Air, operator of budget airline Cebu Pacific Air, saw its profit double in the first nine months of the year to P7.1 billion from P3.56 billion a year ago, led by strong passenger volume, higher ticket prices and lower fuel costs during the period, it told the stock exchange in its quarterly report.