Cebu Air Inc., the operator of Cebu Pacific and Cebgo, said Wednesday it incurred a net loss of more than P9 billion in the first half as revenues slid when flights were grounded amid the lockdown imposed by the government to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The budget airline said net loss in the first six months reached P9.14 billion, a reversal of the P7.14-billion net income in the same period last year, as revenues tumbled 61.2 percent to P17.33 billion from P44.703 billion a year ago.
“The overall decline in revenues was brought about by the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak which started with cancellation of flights to China, Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea in varying periods due to the imposition of travel restrictions,” CEB said.
Passenger revenues dropped 65.5 percent to P11.50 billion from P33.352 billion it earned in six months ending June 30, 2019.
The group also saw a 60.1-percent decline in passenger traffic from 11.2 million to 4.5 million as the number of flights decreased by 55.6 percent and seat load factor declined by 7.3 percentage points from 87.2 percent to 80.8 percent.
Average fares also went down by 13.6 percent to P2,571 in the first six months from P2,974 in the same period last year.
Cargo revenues declined by 21.7 percent to P2.221 billion from P2.836 billion on 52.4-percent drop in volume transported. This was partially offset by a higher yield primarily from chartered cargo services.
The company incurred operating expenses of P24.318 billion from January to June, down by 32.2 percent from P35.891 billion a year earlier.
“This was mostly driven by the suspension of the group’s operations due to the COVID-19 global pandemic since a material portion of its expenses are based on flights and flight hours,” it said.
Flying operations expenses went down by 53.6 percent to P7.049 billion from P15.201 billion while repair and maintenance expenses dropped 13.9 percent to P3.485 billion from P4.046 billion.