Cebu Pacific Says Bookings Nearly Hitting ‘Pre-Pandemic’ Levels, Achieves Increased Revenue

With the Philippines’ pandemic restrictions now back to Alert Level 1, the demand for air travel is now projected to increase and eventually return to its pre-pandemic landscape.

Cebu Pacific reported on Thursday that flight bookings are starting to return to pre-pandemic levels, which led to an increase in revenue in the first quarter. Cebu Pacific generated ₱6.71 billion in revenues for the first quarter of 2022, which is 148% higher than the first quarter of 2021.

As of April 20, the airline has noted its average bookings had increased by 29% compared to the same period in 2019. The number of flights increased by 128% in comparison to last year, as it flew 16,521 flights in the first quarter. The airline also saw a 272% jump in passenger traffic reaching 2.05 million flyers.

“As flight frequencies increase, bookings are already breaching pre-Covid levels for our domestic network,” said Cebu Pacific in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

The airline industry, in particular, has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with airports all over the world closing temporarily and aircrafts previously being grounded to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

In 2021, Cebu Pacific’s revenues dropped by ₱24.9 billion due to the impact of the pandemic. Earlier this year, with another round of COVID-19 disruptions due to the surge from the Omicron variant, the airline suffered a net loss of ₱7.61 billion, a 4% increase from the ₱7.3 billion in the first quarter last year.

As of now, Cebu Pacific has now resumed its flights to Dubai, Hong Kong, and Bangkok, with plans to soon reinstate their usual routes to Bali, Hanoi, and Sydney as well.

Source: ABS-CBN News, ABS CBN News