Cebu Pacific flies 2.1M passengers in August 2025

Cebu Pacific (CEB) carried 2.1 million passengers in August 2025, a slight 0.4 percent decline compared with the same month last year.

Despite the drop, the airline’s seat load factor (SLF) improved to 83.7 percent from 81.3 percent as overall seat capacity fell by 3.2 percent.

Domestic passenger traffic slipped 4.4 percent year-on-year on 10.7 percent fewer seats deployed, though domestic SLF rose 5.7 percentage points to 87.6 percent.

International passenger traffic grew 13.3 percent versus August 2024 on 21.4 percent higher seat capacity, but SLF declined 5.3 percentage points to 74.2 percent.

For January to August 2025, CEB carried 18.1 million passengers, up 15.2 percent from 15.7 million during the same period in 2024.

Of the total, domestic passengers increased 14.0 percent to 13.5 million, while international passengers rose 18.8 percent to 4.6 million.

Year-to-date seat load factor averaged 85.2 percent as total seat capacity expanded 15.1 percent to 21.3 million.

“The softer year-on-year traffic in August reflects the usual lean travel season in the Philippines, particularly for domestic routes, while international passenger growth remained strong,” said Cebu Pacific Chief Executive Officer Mike Szucs.

“We see this as an expected and temporary dip, with traffic rebounding in the fourth quarter as peak travel season begins and aircraft availability improves,” he added.

Szucs explained that the airline moderated domestic capacity growth in August due to unscheduled engine removals, the flyadeal wet-lease, and scheduled maintenance work.

“These actions enable our capacity to be optimized so that we can deliver higher growth in the fourth quarter to coincide with the anticipated strong demand,” Szucs said.

¹ Seat Load Factor: Passengers divided by number of seats available and expressed as a percentage.

² Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPK): Number of passengers carried multiplied by number of kilometers flown.

³ Available Seat Kilometers (ASK): Number of seats available multiplied by number of kilometers flown.