Cebu Pacific says passenger volume up 21% in first half

CEBU PACIFIC saw its passenger volume climb by 20.8% to 13.9 million in the first semester, driven by strong domestic travel demand, the budget carrier said on Tuesday.

“Despite the earlier onset of the academic calendar — moving the start of classes from late July last year to mid-June this year — passenger traffic and seat load factors remained resilient. Domestic demand remained strong,” Cebu Pacific President and Chief Commercial Officer Alexander G. Lao said in a media release.

For the January-to-June period, the budget airline said it had recorded higher passenger numbers compared with the 11.5 million in the same period last year.

Broken down, Cebu Pacific said its domestic passenger volume reached 10.35 million, while international passenger numbers totaled 3.53 million.

For the month of June alone, Cebu Pacific carried a total of 2.2 million passengers, marking a 7.9% increase from 2.06 million in the same month last year.

“For the first half of 2025, our load factors have increased despite seat growth of more than 20%. This reflects the continued strength of air travel demand within our network,” Mr. Lao said.

The budget carrier logged a total seat load factor of 85.4% for the first half, up from last year’s 85.3%, data from Cebu Pacific showed. A seat load factor is a metric used by airlines to represent the percentage of seating capacity that is filled with passengers.

“Capacity for the second half of June was reduced due to the commencement of the leaner season. This also aligns with ongoing proactive management of engine and supply chain issues and as such we would expect capacity growth levels to stay at similar levels through the third quarter before rising again in the fourth quarter,” Mr. Lao said.

At present, Cebu Pacific operates on 37 domestic routes and 26 international destinations with a fleet of 99 aircraft. — Ashley Erika O. Jose