CEBU AIR, Inc. trimmed its losses to P384.3 million in the third quarter from P518.4 million a year ago, as the budget carrier added flights and raised average fares.
In a regulatory filing, the listed operator of Cebu Pacific said its nine-month profit surged 142% to P6.75 billion, from P2.78 billion a year ago.
Third-quarter revenues went up by 17% to P18.9 billion, bringing the nine-month figure to P63.625 billion, higher by 18% from a year ago.
In the July to September period, passenger revenues increased by 18% to P13.24 billion, while ancillary revenues rose 19% to P4.19 billion. Cargo revenues grew by 2.3% to P1.47 billion.
For the first nine months of the year, Cebu Air said passenger revenues jumped 18% to P46.59 billion.
“This was mainly attributable to the 10.4% growth in passenger volume to 16.7 million from 15.1 million last year as the Group added bigger A321 aircraft to its fleet. The increase in average fares by 6.7% to P2,794 for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 from P2,617 for the same period last year also contributed to the increase in revenues,” the company said.
Ancillary revenues rose by 22% during the January to September period to P12.71 billion. Cebu Air said the average ancillary revenue per passenger increased by 10.7% from “pricing adjustments and increased volume of certain ancillary products and services.”
Cargo revenues for the nine-month period grew by 5.3% to P4.31 billion, on higher volume and yield of cargo.
Meanwhile, operating expenses grew by 7% to P18 billion in the third quarter, and by 8% to P53.8 billion during the first nine months, due to “its expanded operations, growth in seat capacity from the acquisition of new aircraft partially offset by the strengthening of the Philippine peso against the U.S. dollar.”
The Philippine peso averaged P52.06 per US dollar for the nine months ended Sept. 30, from an average of P52.51 per US dollar last year.
