Cebu Pacific was in the red by P24.9 billion for full year 2021 as it weathered through the COVID-19 pandemic but remained optimistic it can recover to pre-covid domestic capacity levels by second quarter,2022.
New COVID-19 variants emerging and re-imposition of lockdowns last year pulled down CEB’s operational and financial performance.
With 34,463 flights, CEB flew 3 million 4 hundred 11 thousand passengers in 2021, 32 percent lower than previous year due to a high base in the 1st quarter of 2020.
In the first quarter of 2020 alone, before the onset of the air travel lockdown in March 2020, Cebu Pacific flew close to 4.4M passengers on about 30,000 flights
CEB generated P15.7 billion in revenues in 2021, 30 percent below 2020.
This was mostly driven by the 50 percent decline in passenger revenue to P6.3 billion from P12.6B in 2020.
Cargo operations, on the other hand, continued to flourish in 2021 as it posted record sales of P6.5 billion, a 20 percent increase versus 2020.
Despite higher fuel prices, total operating expenses declined by 10 percent to P38.9B given the limited flying operations, supplemented by the various cost cutting initiatives undertaken such as right-sizing of its network, fleet, and manpower.
With these, CEB posted an operating loss of P23.2 billion, 12 percent more than the previous year.
CEB also incurred non-core losses of P1.12 billion, driven primarily by higher peso translation of its US dollar debt and mark to market losses from the derivative value of its convertible bonds, which were partially offset by P1.4 billion gain from aircraft sale and leaseback transactions.
Amidst the losses and uncertainty brought about by the pandemic, CEB stayed resilient and ensured its long-term sustainability.
Aside from its cost saving initiatives, it successfully raised over $1.6 billion from various fund-raising initiatives.
This not only allowed for an even longer liquidity runway but also resulted to a stronger balance sheet with cash balance of P19.6 billion, surpassing even the pre pandemic cash levels.
CEB management is encouraged by strong domestic demand becoming apparent, with bookings steeply increasing over the past few months.