Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific has flown over 18 million passengers in the first eight months of the year as overall demand for air travel continues to soar despite a slight dip in August.

The Gokongwei-led airline said it served 18.13 million passengers from January to August, 15-percent higher than the 15.73 million passengers during the same period in 2024.

Based on eight months of data, Cebu Pacific saw its domestic segment reach 13.51 million passengers, 14-percent higher than the 11.84 million domestic passengers last year.

Meanwhile, international passengers rose by nearly 19 percent to 4.62 million passengers from 3.89 million passengers in the previous year.

By the end of August, the carrier has made available 21.27 million seats, up 15 percent from the 18.47 million seats offered last year.

Seat load factor, which measures how many of the available seats were occupied, remained firm at 85.2 percent.

Measuring August alone, Cebu Pacific carried 2.1 million passengers, slightly lower than the 2.11 million passengers recorded during the same month last year.

Cebu Pacific Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mike Szucs said the leaner year-on-year traffic in August reflects the usual lean travel season in the country.

Szucs said this is particularly evident in domestic routes as international passenger growth remains strong.

Domestic passengers in August fell to 1.56 million passengers from the previous year’s 1.63 million passengers. On the contrary, international traffic surged to 541,000 passengers from 477,000 passengers.

During the same month, Cebu Pacific cut its seat offerings to 2.51 million from 2.6 million in August 2024. Seat load factor was slightly higher at 83.7 percent from 81.3 percent.

Szucs said moderating its capacity growth in August was part of the airline’s initiatives to prepare for the busy travel season around the holidays.

Apart from reducing available seats, Cebu Pacific took on engine removals and maintenance efforts, as well as the two-month wet-lease deal with Saudi Arabian budget airline Flyadeal, which ended last month.

“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,” said Szucs.

The executive said he expects passenger traffic to rebound in the fourth quarter as aircraft availability improves, and passengers fly out during the holidays.

Cebu Pacific is targeting to reach approximately 29 million passengers this year, around 20-percent higher than last year’s all-time record of 24.5 million passengers.

Last July, Cebu Pacific made history as the first Filipino airline to operate a fleet of 100 aircraft with the delivery of its 12th Airbus A330neo.

The carrier operates in 37 domestic and 26 international destinations.