Cebu Pacific sees full return to pre-pandemic capacity in 2023

SINGAPORE—Cebu Pacific is optimistic that its domestic and international operations will return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic capacity late next year if travel restrictions are eased further.

“Come 2023 we expect full recovery for the entire network,” Cebu Pacific chief strategy officer Alex Reyes said at a press conference here.

The Gokongwei-led budget carrier earlier said that it already surpassed its December 2019 level for domestic capacity as it registered 109% restoration in the first week of July 2022.

For its pre-pandemic systemwide capacity, Cebu Pacific has restored 88% of its pre-pandemic level.

Reyes said that for international flights, the airline was “not yet back to pre-pandemic levels.”

“On the international side, [we’re] operating half of the capacity that we had before the pandemic struck,” he said.

The Cebu Pacific official said that the airline still had a few stations in China that were not yet back online.

“The big one that’s not yet back is China. We only have approval for one flight per week to Guangzhou,” Reyes said.

In terms of profitability, the full restoration of Cebu Pacific’s international capacity is seen to “contribute a lot because the airline is a high operating leverage kind of business.”

In the second quarter of 2022, the airline saw its net loss reduced to P1.9 billion from P6.5 billion net loss posted in the same period last year.

The budget carrier saw its revenues during the period grow by 337% to P13.97 billion from P3.2 billion in the same period in 2021, owing to more flights operated and more passengers flown as travel restrictions eased. —NB, GMA News

NOTE: This story was produced during the Philippine media's visit to Singapore sponsored by Cebu Pacific.