Cebu Pacific said net income fell 51 percent last year due to a challenging macroeconomic environment.
The airline company controlled by industrialist John Gokongwei posted a profit of P3.9 billion in 2018 from P7.9 billion in 2017.
The airline’s revenue reached P74.1 billion, up 9 percent from the previous year, on the back of continued demand for air travel and robust growth of its cargo business.
The growth in CEB’s 2018 business came amid a challenging environment with high fuel prices, a volatile Philippine peso, rising interest rates, increased competition, the six-month closure of Boracay and operational limitations in the country’s key airports.
CEB flew 20.3 million passengers in 2018, up 2.7 percent from 2017.
On average, CEB flights were 85-percent full during the year, with the carrier mounting 390 flights daily.
Revenue growth was driven by sustained growth in passenger revenue, up 9 percent to P54.3 billion, and a 6-percent rise in ancillary revenue.
Revenues from cargo, meanwhile, a double digit growth of 19 percent, as CEB carried 210 million kilos of freight.
“Despite the pressures posed in 2018, we remained resilient. We were able to expand our network by up-gauging our flights touching congested airports. 2019 will be a different story though—we have already received the first of our fuel-efficient A321NEO orders from Airbus, and we expect 10 more new generation aircraft this year,” Cebu Pacific chief operations officer Michael Ivan Shau.
“We also just announced four new domestic routes. 2019 is definitely the year we accelerate our growth,” he added.
Shau said the company would continue to pursue fleet upgrading and invest in the latest aircraft technologies, as well as develop secondary hubs like Cebu and Clark.
“We will also continue to grow our cargo business with the incoming ATR freighters as well as continue our digital transformation for us to be more agile and adaptable to changing customer expectations,” he said.
Cebu Pacific offers flights to a total of 37 domestic and 26 international destinations, operating an extensive network across Asia, Australia, the Middle East and the US.
