Cebu Air Inc., the operator of Cebu Pacific and Cebgo, said Tuesday it expects to fly 22 million passengers this year, down from an earlier forecast of 24 million passengers.
Cebu Pacific chief executive Mike Szucs said the airline was forced to cut capacity by two million due to engine issues with Pratt and Whitney (P&W).
Data from Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) showed that Cebu Pacific carried 8.5 million domestic and international passengers in the first half of 2023.
“We have a number of aircraft that’s on the ground at the moment because we don’t have a sufficient engine,” he said.
Szucs said the company was expecting to return to profitability this year despite the reduction in passenger growth.
“I think we’ve said that we anticipate profitability this year,” he said.
The airline posted a net income of P3.74 billion in the first half of the year, a reversal from the P9.5-billion net loss in the same period last year.
Cebu Pacific’s revenues amounted to P43.55 billion, 110.6 percent higher than the P20.68 billion in the same period last year.
Cebu Pacific booked a net loss of P14 billion in 2022, down from P24.9 billion in 2021.
Szucs earlier said Cebu Pacific was in talks with Airbus and Boeing for a possible largest order of aircraft to be made in history.
“In the coming week or two, we will formally launch the request for proposal and may the best man win. It will be one or the other, we’re not gonna split it between the two. It could be that we order a whole load of new Airbus again, or it could be that we order a whole load of Boeing. We would think three to six months would be the whole process, hopefully,” he said.
Szucs said Cebu Pacific was looking at Boeing aircraft to diversify risk “because we’re facing issues at the moment” with Airbus engine issues.
Cebu Pacific said it expected its fleet to end 2023 with 76 aircraft and grow to 91 aircraft by 2024. It is the youngest fleet in the Philippines and includes 25 P&W-powered Airbus aircraft.