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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
IT’S official. Cebu Pacific carried more
domestic passenger last year, overtaking close rival Philippine
Airlines (PAL), the Civil Aeronautical Board (CAB) said.
Data from CAB showed that the Gokongwei-owned
airline carried 4.56 million domestic passengers with a load factor
of 83 percent last year, as against PAL’s 4.03 million passengers
and 79-percent load factor. Air Philippines carried 1.17 million
domestic passenger while Asian Spirit served 484,482. Newcomer
Southeast Asian Airlines (Seair) flew 221,960 people as of November
last year.
The industry’s increasing load factor reflects
a steady growth in passenger demand in the country.
For the fourth quarter alone, Cebu Pacific flew
1.13 million passengers and PAL another 1.06 million.
Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice-president for
marketing and products, said this makes the airline the single
largest domestic carrier in the country, offering the most routes,
destinations and flights in the Philippines.
“This is a new milestone that will further
encourage us to continue offering low fares, new planes and quality
service,” Iyog said.
For its part, PAL said it had a 53.8-percent
market share last year compared with Cebu Pacific’s 46.2 percent
share.
The PAL-Air Philippines alliance led in terms of
seating capacity, with 6.46 million seats flown on 31 domestic
routes.
In terms of cargo operations, PAL carried 62.67
million kilograms during the period followed by Cebu Pacific, 54.16
million; Air Philippines, 12 million; and Pacific East Asia Cargo,
9.8 million.
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