Cebu Pacific reports 14.5M passengers flown in H1 2026, up 4.3%

Budget carrier Cebu Pacific saw its passenger volume grow in the first half of 2026 despite global fuel volatility amid the Middle East crisis.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Cebu Pacific said it flew about 14.5 million passengers in January to June this year, up 4.3% from 13.9 million passengers flown in the same period last year.

Broken down, domestic passengers accounted for the lion's share at 10.9 million, up 4.9% year-on-year while international passengers stood at 3.6 million, up 2.4%.

The Gokongwei-led airline added that, during the first half, its seat capacity expanded by 9.7% to 17.9 million seats with average seat load factor (SLF) at 81.2%.

SLF is the percentage of an airline's available seating capacity filled with paying passengers. It measures how an airline uses its planes. A high SLF means an airline is effectively filling its flights and generating revenues.

For June alone, Cebu Pacific said it carried 2.3 million passengers, up 2.5% from a year ago.

Moreover, seat capacity last month grew by 7.2% year-on-year, while SLF stood at 83.6%, down from 87.5% in June 2025.

In June, domestic passengers increased 6.2% year-on-year on 17.7% higher seats, resulting in a domestic SLF of 83.1%.

International passenger traffic, meanwhile, went down by 8.6% year-on-year, with seat capacity down by 18.5%, bringing international SLF up by 9.3 percentage points to 85.4%.

"June marked a return to year-on-year passenger growth, driven by the continued strength of our domestic network even as we entered the traditional lean travel season. While international volumes remained below last year, this largely reflected previous capacity adjustments," said Xander Lao, president and chief commercial officer of Cebu Pacific.

"With fuel prices having eased significantly and consumer sentiment improving, our market position continues to strengthen, and we expect a further recovery in operating performance through the second half of the year," added Lao. — VDV, GMA News