Sunlight Air delays jet acquisition plan

MANILA, Philippines — The boutique airline of millennial CEO Ryna Brito-Garcia has deferred its plan to buy a maiden jetliner, as it shifts from expansion stance to survival mode because of cost spikes.

On the sidelines of a Management Association of the Philippines forum, Brito-Garcia confirmed that her airline Sunlight Air is no longer planning to buy a single-aisle jet.

Brito-Garcia said several factors have played into the deferral, but largely due to the uncertainty on when jet fuel prices would come down.

Sunlight Air also reduced flight volumes on certain routes, including Coron and Siargao, to cut fuel consumption.

The bigger concern for Sunlight is that travel demand is pulled by the double whammy of a weak peso and surging prices. Brito-Garcia said Filipinos tend to spend less on non-essential items like travel in times of economic slowdown.

Given this, Brito-Garcia said Sunlight anticipates no recovery in flight demand over the next two years, placing pressure on the carrier to cut costs to pull through.

Sunlight, a boutique carrier that mostly flies to island destinations, is recording a load factor of at least 75 percent, meaning three in four seats are booked every flight.

However, this has been maintained by cutting flight frequency to select destinations, as Sunlight focuses on high-return routes for now for cost efficiency.

To date, Sunlight manages a fleet of four turboprops: three ATR 72-500s and one 72-600. It uses these aircraft to fly to island destinations Boracay, Coron, Romblon and Siargao.

As an airline with an all-turboprop fleet, Sunlight was one of the carriers pushed out of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport because of the policy to only accommodate jetliners.

Sunlight flew 92,846 passengers in the first half, down by four percent from a year ago’s 96,728.