Cebu Pacific flies 5.5 million passengers in 2007, up 58%

Cebu Pacific Airlines, the country’s top domestic carrier (CEB) carried almost 5.5 million passengers in 2007, equivalent to a 58% increase from the 2006 level. This surpassed its target of 5 million passengers.

Of the 5,490,267 total, domestic flyers accounted for 4,457,597, up 46.75% from 2006. This is partly because of the expansion to new routes: Cebu-Kalibo, Cebu-Puerto Princesa, Cebu-Cagayan de Oro and Cebu-Butuan. Domestic passenger load factor rose from 74.89% to 82.59%.

Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and product, said, “Clearly, this makes Cebu Pacific the single largest domestic carrier in the country, offering the most routes, destinations and flights in the Philippines.”

International traffic rose by 140.77% to 1,032,670 in 2007 from 428,926 in 2006, as new destinations were introduced, including Jakarta, Taipei, Shanghai, Xiamen, Guangzhou and Macau.

“We are so happy to have surpassed our goal to carry five million passengers in 2007. Our system-wide passenger load factor rose to 81.65% from 75.3% in 2006. This is a new milestone that will further encourage us to continue offering low fares, new planes, and quality service.” Iyog emphasized.

Cebu Pacific completed its refleeting in 2007 with 15 Airbus aircraft (10 A319 and 5 A320) and it expects the arrival of 10 brand-new aircraft (six ATRs and four A320s) in 2008 to service new domestic and international destinations.

“We are very proud of our average fleet age of 1.7 years and as we take delivery of 10 brand new aircraft this year, this will bring down the average even more, further strengthening our position as the airline with the youngest fleet in the Philippines.” Iyog added.

Cebu Pacific will fly new routes this year: Davao-Iloilo; Davao-Hong Kong and Davao-Singapore direct. Also, it will add a second daily frequency to Singapore and will mount additional flights to Macau making it a daily service from Manila beginning June 2008.

Now in its 12th year, Cebu Pacific Airlines has the youngest fleet of aircraft in the Philippines. Cebu Pacific flies to 12 international and 21 domestic destinations, including Caticlan beginning on February 29, 2008.