MANILA, Philippines – Cebu Pacific carried less passengers in April amid fuel price pressures brought by the situation in the Middle East, the Gokongwei-owned budget carrier said on Friday, May 15.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Cebu Pacific said it carried around 2.3 million passengers in April, 0.7% lower than the same month last year. Overall seat load factor (SLF), which measures the utilization of an airline’s capacity, dropped to 74.4% from 83.8% last year.

The decline was felt more in domestic than in international routes. Domestic seat load factor fell 11.8 percentage points, from 85.7% in April 2025 to 73.9% in April 2026. International seat load factor fell by 3.5 points, from 79% in April 2025 to 75.6% in April 2026.

Month on month, Cebu Pacific also flew fewer passengers this April compared to the previous month of March when the impact of the Middle East conflict began to hurt consumers. The airline flew a total (domestic plus international) of 2.463 million passengers in March 2026 compared to 2.271 million in April 2026 or 192,000 fewer passengers.

Comparing domestic and international volume month on month, Cebu Pacific flew 1.850 million domestic passengers in March compared to 1.669 million in April 2026, a decline of 181,000 passengers. In terms of international passengers, the reduction was only minimal: it flew 613,000 in March compared to 602,000 in April or 11,000 fewer passengers.

Nonetheless, Cebu Pacific, the Philippines’ leading airline, has flown over 9.8 million passengers since the start of 2026, 6.2% more from the 9.2 million logged in 2025.

Xander Lao, Cebu Pacific’s president and chief commercial officer, said that the airline has seen softer booking momentum and weaker April load amid fuel price pressures brought by the conflict in the Middle East.

“We have since recalibrated pricing, including rolling out targeted seat sales, with early indications of a booking recovery emerging in our late April and May booking trends,” he said.

Fuel surcharges more than doubled in April, with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) raising surcharge levels from Level 8 to Level 19 amid the oil shock.

The CAB has since brought fuel surcharge levels down to Level 15 for May 16 to 31, which translates to around P491 to P1,436 for domestic flights and P1,621.42 to P12,056 for international routes. – Rappler.com