Cebu Pacific (PSE: CEB), the biggest airline in the Philippines, made more money in the first three months of the year compared to last year. According to the company, they earned 10% more because they flew more people and many passengers wanted to travel with them.

How Much Money Did Cebu Pacific Make?

The airline earned a total of ₱33.3 billion in the first quarter. To understand why this happened, think of an airplane like a bus with seats. Cebu Pacific added 10% more seats (meaning they had more flights or bigger planes), and people kept buying tickets to fly with them.

During this period, 7.5 million passengers flew with Cebu Pacific – that’s 8% more people than the same time last year. To give you an idea, that’s like filling up a large stadium about 90 times! The airline kept 83.7% of their seats filled, which means most seats on their planes had passengers sitting in them.

Where Did the Money Come From?

Cebu Pacific makes money in different ways, just like how you might earn money from different chores:

• Passenger tickets: They earned ₱22.5 billion from people buying plane tickets, which is 6% more than last year
• Extra services (ancillary revenue): They earned ₱9 billion from things like extra baggage, seat selection, and snacks – this jumped 19% from last year
• Cargo (shipping boxes and packages): They earned ₱1.8 billion from carrying cargo, which increased 8% because they used bigger planes that can carry more boxes

Understanding the Company’s Profits

The company’s EBITDA (a way to measure how much money a business makes from its operations) went up 26% to ₱8.4 billion. Their operating income, which is another way to measure profit, jumped 54% to ₱3 billion. This happened because the company was careful about spending money and became better at running their business, even though it cost more to operate more planes.

Cebu Pacific’s “core income before tax” – which is the money they make from actually running the airline business – improved significantly to ₱1.3 billion from only ₱325 million last year. This shows the airline business itself is doing much better.

The Currency Problem

However, there’s something called “foreign exchange losses” that affected the company. Think of it this way: if you borrowed money in US dollars but earn money in Philippine pesos, and the peso becomes weaker (meaning you need more pesos to pay back the same amount of dollars), you lose money. This happened to Cebu Pacific at the end of March 2026, and they lost ₱1.8 billion because of this.

Because of this currency problem, even though their airline business did well, the company ended up with a net loss of ₱400 million. Last year during the same period, they had a net income (profit) of ₱466 million.

The Company’s Resources

Cebu Pacific now has 101 airplanes in total. They also have over ₱23 billion in cash as of the end of March 2026, which is like having a big savings account. This gives them enough money to handle unexpected problems and continue with their business plans.

What the CEO Says

Mike Szucs, the CEO (the person who runs the company), explained that their strong performance shows they’re good at choosing which routes to fly and how many flights to operate. He mentioned that because fuel prices are going up and things are uncertain, the company will be more careful about adding new flights. They want to focus on protecting their profit margins, being smart about adding capacity, and keeping enough cash available.

According to the company’s statement, their large size, efficient planes, and strong network of domestic flights in the Philippines help them deal with current challenges while building value for the long term.

This article is based on the company’s official press release and disclosures filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange’s Electronic Disclosure Generation Technology (PSE EDGE) system. For the complete and official version of the announcement, readers may visit the PSE EDGE website and search for the company’s filing directly.