Cebu Pacific on Tuesday hoped to complete its USD12 billion aircraft acquisition program before July this year, three months behind the initial first-quarter target date.
“The process is ongoing. We expect to hopefully come to a decision by the first half. I think what we had initially said was maybe by the first quarter, but the first half was our latest guidance,” Alexander Lao, Cebu Pacific president, told reporters.
The airline has held talks with Airbus and Boeing for an order of 150 aircraft valued at USD12 billion.
“The process is really going back and forth with the key suppliers. It’s not just Airbus and Boeing, but it’s also the engine manufacturers. Because clearly, we have to make an engine selection with those aircraft,”’Lao said.
“Filipinos are very price sensitive. So, we need to make sure we get a pretty good deal so we can pass on those efficiencies and savings to our customers,” he added.
According to Lao, the airline projects expanding its capacity by 5 percent to 8 percent this year.
“We’re pretty confident in reaching the higher end of that growth projection in terms of overall capacity. Normally, we would grow our passenger count by maybe 1 or 2 points higher than capacity,”’he said.
Cebu Pacific carried 15.53 million passengers in the first nine months last year, up 49 percent compared to only 10.43 million passengers the year before.
Cebu Pacific posted a net income of P5.02 billion in the first nine months, a turnaround from P12.04 billion in the same period last year.
Revenue amounted to P66.89 billion, also up 78 percent from P37.53 billion.
Cebu Pacific flies to 35 domestic and 25 international destinations spanning across Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.
It operates one of the youngest fleets in the world with its diversified fleet mix of 74 aircraft enabling the widest network coverage in the Philippines.
It has six Airbus 330, 33 Airbus 320, 19 Airbus 321, and 16 ATR turboprop aircraft.
