Cebu Air Inc., the operator of low-cost airlines Cebu Pacific and Cebgo, said net income fell 18.9 percent in 2017 from a year ago mostly because of higher jet fuel expenses.
The airline company controlled by tycoon John Gokongwei said net income went down to P7.91 billion in 2017 from P9.75 billion in 2016.
The group generated revenues of P68.02 billion in 2017, up 9.9 percent from P61.89 billion in 2016, as passenger revenues increased 7.2 percent to P49.93 billion from P46.59 billion.
The company attributed the increase in revenue to the 3.2 percent growth in passenger volume to 19.7 million in 2017 from 19.1 million in 2016, driven by the 3.6-percent increase in number of flights as the group added more aircraft to its fleet.
The number of aircraft increased from 57 in 2016 to 61 in 2017.
Cebu Air said average fares increased 3.8 percent in 2017 to P2,529 from P2,436 in 2016, contributing to the increase in revenues.
Cargo revenues went up 29.2 percent to P4.60 billion from P3.56 billion in 2016 following the increase in the cargo volume and yield in 2017.
Ancillary revenues went up 14.9 percent to P13.49 billion from P11.74 billion, driven by improved online bookings, pricing adjustments and introduction of new ancillary revenue products and services.
Operating expenses climbed 16.6 percent to P57.895 billion last year from P49.64 billion in 2016.
Cebu Air blamed the higher operating expenses to the rise in fuel prices last year coupled with the weakening of the peso against the US dollar.
The peso depreciated to an average of 50.40 per dollar last year from an average of 47.50 per dollar in 2016.