Bilyonaryo Lance Gokongwei’s worst nightmare just got worse as Cebu Pacific sank deeper into red ink in the first half of 2021 more than a year after the pandemic breakout.

Cebu Air (CEB), Cebu Pacific’s parent, reported a net loss of P13.793 billion in the first six months of 2021, 51 percent higher than its P13.8 billion loss in the same period in 2020.

This raised CEB’s total red ink to P36 billion since COVID-19 broke out in 2020 and kneecapped the global airline industry.

Revenues sank 66 percent year-on-year to P5.9 billion in the first half. This is just 13 percent of CEB’s record P44.8 billion earnings in the first half of 2019, or nine months before airplanes were grounded due to COVID-19.

CEB’s cost of operating each per kilometer doubled to P8.56 in the first half of 2021 while seat load factor – which measures how much of an airline’s passenger carrying capacity has been utilized – shrank to 54.9 percent in 2021 from 80.8 percent the previous year.

Despite the ballooning losses, Gokongwei reiterated that CEB “believes that it remains a resilient airline despite the adverse impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Gokongwei has yet to revise CEB’s expansion plans as it expects to receive 57 more planes over the next six years. It plans to spend P162.536 billion to buy more planes as of June 30 this year, from P154.139 billion, 5.4 percent higher than its capex budget of P154.139 billion as of end-2020.

The post Cebu Pacific’s pandemic losses swell to P36B with revenues just a tenth of 2019 levels first appeared on Bilyonaryo Business News.