Cebu Air Inc. (CEB), more known as Cebu Pacific, on Thursday reported posting net profit of P3.74 billion in the first six months.
The turnaround from a net loss of P9.5 billion in the same period last year is attributed to higher passenger revenue.
The airline reported revenue amounting to P43.551 billion, 111 percent higher than only P20.68 billion revenue generated in the same period last year.
“The overall increase in revenue was primarily driven by a significant increase in passenger volume and flight activities due to increased demand for travel,” CEB said.
“Additionally, for the six months ended June 30, 2023, most parts of the country continued to be under a more relaxed Alert Level classification, which enabled the Group to resume to its regular pre-pandemic services,” the airline added.
Its passenger revenue amounted to P30.12 billion in the first half, up 158 percent from P11.66 billion last year.
Cebu Pacific attributed the growth in revenues to the 63.3 percent increase in passenger volume from 6.3 million to 10.3 million passengers.
Cargo revenues amounted to P1.99 billion, down 33 percent from P3.57 billion, driven lower by fewer cargo kilograms flown and lower yield from cargo services.
The Group incurred operating expenses of P39.79 billion, higher by 38 percent compared to only P28.838 billion last year.
“This was mostly driven by the increase in Group operations due to the easing of Covid-19 restrictions since a material portion of its expenses are based on flights and flight hours,” CEB said.
Flight operations expense amounted to P16.77 billion up 57.6 percent from P10.64 billion in the same period last year.
“This was largely accounted for by higher fuel consumption by 71.4 percent in line with the increased flight activity during the period, which was slightly offset with the decrease in average published fuel MOPS price to $99.26 per barrel from $129.49 per barrel for the six months ended June 30, 2022,” Cebu Pacific said.
It meant mean of Platts Singapore which is the daily average price of petroleum traders use, taking into account changes in the peso-dollar exchange rate.
