Among the world’s 30 largest low-cost carriers in 2007, Cebu Pacific (CEB) ranked first in terms of revenue passengers per kilometer growth, according to the Airline Business magazine’s May, 2008 issue.

Cebu Pacific was also ranked No. 23 in the world and No. 5 in Asia in total passengers carried in 2007.

Cebu Pacific carried a total of almost 5.5 million passengers in 2007, up 57.4% from 2006.

Lance Y. Gokongwei, Cebu Pacific president and CEO, said, “This is a testament that our offering — new aircraft and most affordable fares — has caught on and we believe will continue to gain momentum.”

This year, Cebu Pacific expects to fly 7 million passengers as it takes delivery of new planes and expands its service domestically and internationally.

Cebu Pacific recently offered an unprecedented 500,000 seats for free with the passengers paying only for the surcharges and government tax.

Southwest Airlines (USA) topped the low-cost carrier category with 88.7 million passengers, followed by Ryanair (Ireland), easyJet (UK), Air Berlin (Germany) and AirTran Airways. CEB joins Indonesia’s Lion Air (1) and the now defunct Adam Air (4), Malaysia’s AirAsia (2), and Deccan (3) of India in Asia’s Top 5.

Cebu Pacific has a fleet of ten A319s, eight A320s, and two ATR 72-500 aircraft. The airline flies to 14, soon to be 16 international destinations with the addition of Kaohsiung in June and Kota Kinabalu on July. It will also add Tuguegarao and Naga,in its domestic network in June and San Jose (Mindoro) in July.