CEBU Air Inc. on Friday reported it carried more than 1.1 million passengers last month, surpassing its April passenger tally.
In a statement, the airline said it achieved an all-time high average of 91-percent seat load factor. Seat load factor refers to the ratio of passengers to available seats on board a given flight.
The airline flew 1,111,129 passengers on board its 16 international and 33 domestic destinations from May 1 to May 31. This translates to a 16-percent year-on-year growth for May compared with the yearago level.
Cebu Pacific first reached the 1-million mark in passenger count in April this year, the first Philippine carrier to reach this level this year.
“Cebu Pacific, as a homegrown carrier and the low-fare pioneer in the Philippines, is proud to be a major contributor to the strong aviation market in the country. It continues to give a lot of passengers more opportunities for air travel, with its increased flight frequencies and additional four Airbus A320 aircraft deliveries in the second half of this year,” said vice president for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog.
By the end of 2011, the airline will be operating a fleet of 37 aircraft, with an average age of less than 3.5 years. Between 2012 and 2014, Cebu Pacific will take delivery of an additional 16 brand-new Airbus A320 aircraft.
A Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) article on May 16 disclosed that the Philippines’ seat capacity to both international and domestic destinations is within 34,000 weekly seats, overtaking Hong Kong, which is the eighth-biggest aviation market in the region.
The top five with the largest weekly seat capacity to Asia are China, Japan, India, Indonesia and South Korea, according to data from CAPA and Innovata, an industry provider of travel-related content management, content distribution as well as travel planning solutions.
“We remain committed to working closely with the relevant government agencies to boost the Philippines as one of the busiest airports in Asia. This includes moving out general aviation and increasing runway capacity in Manila for more streamlined operations,” Iyog added.
The first low-cost carrier in Asia, Cebu Pacific currently operates over 270 flights daily, and 52 domestic and 24 international routes from hubs in Manila, Cebu, Davao and Clark. It flew almost 10.5 million passengers in 2010, exceeding targets with a 19-percent increase over 2009. Its international passengers also grew by 38 percent in 2010.
(Lenie Lectura)
