Low-cost Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB) reported a net income of P1.736 billion in the first half, down 29% year-on-year due mainly to soaring fuel costs and other operational expenses. This was despite the 17.9% increase in revenues to P19.729 billion for the six-month period ended June 30, 2012.
Passenger revenues rose 12.9% year-on-year, or P1.787 billion, to P15.653 billion. The increase was attributed mainly to the 17.2% year-on-year growth in passenger volume to 6.9 million driven by the increased number of flights during the period. Cargo revenues went up 17% to P1.127 billion, on the back of the increase in cargo volumes. Ancillary revenues jumped 55.1% to P2.949 billion.
CEB incurred expenses of P18.200 billion, about 24.7% higher than the P14.595 billion in expenses recorded in the first half of last year. However, this was partially offset by the stronger peso versus the US dollar during the period. The rise in expenses was attributed to the 28.1% year-on-year increase in flying operations expenses to P10.5 billion in first-half 2012. Aircraft and traffic servicing expenses rose 15.4% due to the 11% hike in the number of international flights, for which landing and take-off fees and ground-handling charges are significantly higher than for domestic flights.
In addition, the company’s repair and maintenance expenses went up 35.2% to P1.619 billion from P1.197 billion a year ago mainly due to the overall increase in the number of flights.
Fuel hedging gains of P27.193 million in the six months to June 30 resulted from higher marked-to-market valuation of fuel hedging positions following the increase in fuel prices from the end of 2011.
CEB currently operates a fleet of 38 aircraft comprising 10 Airbus A319s, 20 Airbus A320s, and eight ATR 72-500s. It operates its Airbus aircraft on both domestic and international routes and ATR 72-500 planes on domestic routes, including destinations with runway limitations.
Photo from http://www.cebupacificaircargo.com/en/home
