BUDGET airline Cebu Pacific (CEB) flew 10.5 million passengers last year, an increase of 19% over 8.76 million in 2009.
The airline said growth was mainly driven by a 38% hike in international passengers, which numbered 2.23 million in 2011. Domestic passengers also grew 15% to 8.23 million from 7.14 million in 2009.
The average load factor for 2011 for both domestic and international routes was 85%, an increase of 8 percentage points compared to the previous year.
"We were able to grow our market to Hong Kong and Singapore by 29% and 45%, respectively, because of additional flight frequencies and our extensive network from Manila, Clark and Cebu," CEB vice president for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog said.
"CEB also carried 65% more passengers to Kuala Lumpur in 2011. CEB’s entry into Brunei and Beijing also further strengthened its route network by providing passengers more access to North and Southeast Asian countries," she added.
"We will continue to offer the lowest fares in every route we operate in, and offer better connectivity and flight schedules as we take delivery of five more brand-new Airbus A320 aircraft in 2011. The airline’s 25th Airbus aircraft is set to arrive in the last week of January 2011."
In the fourth quarter of 2011, CEB took delivery of three brand-new Airbus A320 aircraft from Toulouse, France. This additional capacity boosted the number of CEB passengers in the said quarter to 2.7 million, a 19% increase compared to the same period in 2009. Average fourth-quarter load factor is 87%, well above industry average.
In 2011, CEB increased frequencies to Greater China (Macau, Taipei, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong) from 68 to 80 times weekly. It also increased frequencies to Southeast Asia (Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh, Brunei, Bangkok, Jakarta) from 58 to 80 times weekly, and to Korea and Japan from 19 to 21 times weekly.
