Cebu Pacific income down 20%

MANILA, Philippines - Gokongwei- controlled Cebu Air (CEB), the operator of budget airline Cebu Pacific, suffered a 20 percent decline in its first quarter net income to P962.4 million, compared to P1.2 billion in the same period last year.

While CEB generated revenues of P9.34 billion for the three months ending March 31, 2012, 24.2 percent higher than the year ago level of P7.52 billion, the increase in revenues, however, was partially offset by the reduction in average fares by five percent to P2,134 from P2,246 in 2011.

Passenger revenues grew 14.1 percent to P7.19 billion in the first quarter from P6.3 billion registered in the same period last year. Officials said this increase was mainly attributable to the 20.09 percent increase in passenger volume to 3.4 million from 2.8 million last year, driven by the increased number of flights in 2012.

Cargo revenues increased 19 percent to P551.15 million from P463.04 million in the same period last year. Ancillary revenues went up 111.5 percent to P1.59 billion in the three months ending March 31, 2012 from P755.39 million. Increased online bookings primarily contributed to the growth. Sales from online bookings accounted for 51.7 percent of the total sales for the first quarter of 2012 compared to the 50.3 percent in 2011.

“We began unbundling ancillary products and services in April 2011, and have seen improvement in take-up since then,” company officials noted.

CEB is the leading low-cost carrier in the Philippines. It pioneered the “low fare, great value” strategy in the local aviation industry by providing scheduled air travel services targeted to passengers who are willing to forego extras for fares that are typically lower than those offered by traditional full-service airlines.

As of March 31, 2012, CEB operates an extensive route network serving 53 domestic routes and 27 international routes with a total of 2,379 scheduled weekly flights. It operates from four hubs, including the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 located in Pasay City, Metro Manila; Mactan-Cebu International Airport located in Lapu-Lapu City, part of Metropolitan Cebu; Diosdado Macapagal International Airport located in Clark, Pampanga; and Davao International Airport located in Davao City, Davao del Sur.

CEB currently operates a fleet of 40 aircraft comprised of 10 Airbus A319, 22 Airbus A320, and eight ATR 72-500 aircraft. It operates its Airbus aircraft on both domestic and international routes and operates the ATR 72 -500 aircraft on domestic routes, including destinations with runway limitations. The average aircraft age of its fleet is 3.57 years.