Cebu Air Inc. reported on Monday that it swung to profit in January to September on the back of the strong recovery of the travel market.
In its disclosure to the stock exchange, the operator of budget carrier Cebu Pacific reported the reversal of its P12.05-billion loss in 2022 to a net profit of P5.03 billion this year.
Revenues reached P66.90 billion, a 78.2-percent surge from P37.53 billion the year prior, as it recorded a significant increase in passenger volume due to the increased demand for travel, especially for international destinations as the group continues to ramp up its international network. International flights went up by 236.2 percent compared to same period last year.
Passenger revenues rose by 105.2 percent to P46.13 billion from P22.48 billion, as it grew passenger volume by 48.8 percent to 15.5 million passengers from 10.4 million passengers.
Its cargo revenue, meanwhile, took a 47.1-percent dip to P2.97 billion from P5.62 billion due to lower cargo kilograms and yields.
The carrier’s ancillary services generated P17.79 billion in revenues, an 88.5-percent growth from P9.44 billion the year prior.
The company also recorded a 24.7-percent increase in expenses to P48.73 billion from P60.75 billion due to higher fuel consumption coupled with the weakening of the Philippine peso versus the greenback.
As of end-September, the airline group operates a route network serving 67 domestic routes and 36 international routes with a total of 2,645 scheduled weekly flights.
It has a total fleet of 84 aircraft.
Last April, the company said the strong increase in demand for travel and macroeconomic conditions at the time will propel the company to recovery.
“The corporation ended 2022 with 2,600 weekly flights, and by the 2nd quarter of 2023, expects to break over 3,000 weekly flights, going beyond prepandemic levels on a systemwide basis. Higher utilization of existing aircraft, together with improvement in both capacity and seat load factors driven by higher bookings, support the outlook for improvement in the corporation’s revenues and profitability margins,” Cebu Air said.
“Macroeconomic conditions are likewise supporting the corporation’s recovery to profitability.”
Image credits: BusinessMirror file photo
