aviation industry

Cebu Pacific expects to restore pre-pandemic capacity by April

Aika Rey

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Cebu Pacific expects to restore pre-pandemic capacity by April

MILESTONE. Cebu Pacific president and CEO Lance Gokongwei awards the airline's 200 millionth passenger, Salbert Garces, in Cebu.

Cebu Pacific

Cebu Pacific CEO Lance Gokongwei says the airline is 'in good shape'

CEBU, Philippines – Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific is expecting to fully restore its pre-pandemic capacity for domestic flights in April.

Celebrating the airline’s 26th anniversary in Cebu, Cebu Pacific chief executive officer Lance Gokongwei said on Tuesday, March 29, that they are now in “growth mode.”

“Today, Cebu Pacific is operating at 96% of its pre-pandemic capacity. We look forward to restoring our 100% capacity by next month,” said Gokongwei.

According to Cebu Pacific, it averages close to 300 flights daily at present, from about 100 flights per day in 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.

Revenge travel seems to work for Cebu Pacific as well. According to the airline, Boracay and Cebu have exceeded its 2019 flight frequencies.

With this, Gokongwei said he expects 2022 revenues to be around 60% to 70% of 2019 figures. In 2019, Cebu Pacific reported a net income of P9.123 billion, which was more than double the year before. Revenues that year were up 14% to P84.81 billion.

For now, Gokongwei said the airline is not yet looking at expanding its routes beyond Dubai or entering the last-mile cargo business.

“Our main priority is to increase recovery – the handling of passengers to travel. We are focused on offering as [many] choices and good fares to the passengers, and offering more frequencies,” he said.

The Cebu Pacific CEO added that the airline is “in good shape,” in contrast to other airlines which had to undergo restructuring during the pandemic.

“I would dare say we’re one of the few that did not enter any bankruptcy proceedings…. We’re in good shape. We did not have to enter legal proceedings,” Gokongwei said.

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines, for instance, sought bankruptcy protection in the United States. PAL emerged from the process end-2021.

In 2021, Cebu Pacific bled P24.9 billion. Revenues were down 30% to P15.7 billion. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!
Sleeve, Clothing, Apparel

author

Aika Rey

Aika Rey is a business reporter for Rappler. She covered the Senate of the Philippines before fully diving into numbers and companies. Got tips? Find her on Twitter at @reyaika or shoot her an email at aika.rey@rappler.com.