Budget carrier Cebu Pacific said it could pivot back to profitability in the first quarter as it expects to restore 100 percent pre-pandemic capacity by March.
“By first quarter, we aim and we hope to be profitable. We are looking at the first quarter to be profitable,” said Cebu Air Inc. President and Chief Commercial Officer Xander Lao.
He said there was a “strong” travel pick up in January this year while adding that “hopefully, March will be better.”
To date, 100 percent of its 34 domestic destinations are now operated. By March this year, Cebu Pacific will once again operate all of its 25 international destinations.
The airline has set aside P42 billion in capital expenditure (capex) this year, bulk of which will be spent for additional aircraft. “We are looking at P42 billion capex for 2023. Obviously, most of that would be aircraft related,” added Lao.
Three Airbus 320 NEOs, three A321 NEOs and four A330 NEOs are up for delivery this year. These will augment increasing demand for travel.
Also this year, the airline will connect passengers to more places by increasing the frequencies to international destinations such as Bangkok, Brunei, Sydney, Guangzhou, Melbourne, Macau, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Xiamen. “We are excited to welcome more passengers onboard, especially now that we are back to easier times,” said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer.
Cebu Pacific is offering a special seat sale from January 27 to 31, for as low as P499 one-way base fare for international routes. Select domestic destinations are on sale too – all with a travel period of June 1 to November 30.
Lao also said losses incurred from the NAIA fiasco last January 1 stood at “roughly P100 million,” but “it won’t impact our recovery.”
“What’s important is that we can recover the operations quickly…It’s just one day. Obviously, it’s not a great experience for those travelling January 2 onwards,” he said, while noting that normal operations resumed on January 3.