Cebu Pacific flies 19% more passengers to 10.5M last year

MANILA, Philippines - Cebu Pacific (CEB) flew around 10.5 million passengers in 2010, an increase of 19 percent from over 8.76 million in 2009, the Gokongwei-owned budget carrier said.

CEB’s growth was mainly driven by a 38 percent increase in international passengers, which numbered over 2.23 million in 2010. The airline flew 8.23 million domestic passengers, up 15 percent from 7.14 million in 2009.

The average load factor for the year for both domestic and international routes was 85 percent, an increase of eight percentage points compared to the previous year.

“We were able to grow our market to Hong Kong and Singapore by 29 percent and 45 percent, respectively, because of additional flight frequencies and our extensive network from Manila, Clark and Cebu. CEB also carried 65 percent more passengers to Kuala Lumpur in 2010,” CEB VP for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog said.

She added that CEB’s entry into Brunei and Beijing also further strengthened its route network by providing passengers more access to North and Southeast Asian countries.

For the fourth quarter of 2010, CEB took delivery of three brand-new Airbus A320 aircraft from Toulouse, France.

This additional capacity boosted the number of CEB passengers in the fourth quarter to 2.7 million, a notable 19 percent increase compared to the same period in 2009. Average fourth quarter load factor is 87 percent, well above industry average.

In 2010, CEB increased frequencies to Greater China (Macau, Taipei, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong) from 68 to 80 times weekly. It also increased frequencies to Southeast Asia (Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh, Brunei, Bangkok, Jakarta) from 58 to 80 times weekly, and to Korea and Japan from 19 to 21 times weekly.

“We will continue to offer the lowest fares in every route we operate in, and offer better connectivity and flight schedules, as we take delivery of five more brand-new Airbus A320 aircraft in 2011. The airline’s 25th Airbus aircraft is set to arrive in the last week of January 2011,” Iyog said.

Low-fare pioneer CEB ended 2010 with the youngest and only 100 percent brand-new aircraft fleet in the Philippines, composed of 10 Airbus A319, 14 Airbus A320 and eight ATR-72 500 aircraft. It operates to 33 domestic and 16 international destinations from Manila, Cebu, Clark and Davao.