Cebu Pacific (CEB), the Philippines’ leading airline, announced a remarkable performance in January 2026, with passenger traffic reaching 2.7 million, marking a 6.2% increase compared to the same period last year.
This growth was driven by the airline’s strategic capacity expansion and the continued demand for travel following the holiday season.
The airline increased its seat capacity by 9.9%, maintaining a healthy system seat load factor (SLF) of 83.6%.
Domestic passenger traffic rose by 5.1% year-on-year, supported by a 7.9% increase in seat capacity, resulting in a domestic SLF of 84.7%.
International passenger traffic also showed strong growth, increasing by 9.4% year-on-year, with seat capacity up by 15.5%.
Despite the increase in international seat capacity, the international SLF slightly decreased by 4.4 percentage points to 80.7%.
Xander Lao, President and Chief Commercial Officer of Cebu Pacific, expressed confidence in the airline’s performance, stating, “Cebu Pacific’s strong January 2026 performance demonstrates the resilience of underlying travel demand and the effectiveness of our capacity deployment strategy.
The increase in passenger volumes across both domestic and international segments highlights the market’s confidence in our network and value proposition.
“As we continue to optimize fleet utilization and expand seat supply, we remain confident in our ability to capture growth opportunities, enhance operational efficiency, and deliver sustained value to our customers and stakeholders.”
Cebu Pacific, which entered the aviation industry in March 1996, has flown over 270 million passengers since its inception.
As a pioneer of the “low fare, great value” strategy, the airline operates one of the youngest fleets in the world, consisting of 100 aircraft.
CEB offers the widest network coverage in the Philippines, with 37 domestic and 26 international destinations.
