Cebu Pacific (CEB) registered a 57% growth in passenger traffic for 2006 vs 2005.

In a keynote address by CEB President and CEO Lance Gokongwei at the 4th Low Cost Airline Congress in Singapore, he disclosed that the airline carried 3.5 million passengers for 2006 with a year-round average load factor of 75%. CEB's records show that the airline carried 2.2 million passengers with a year-round average load factor of 64% in 2005.

"2006 was a milestone year for the airline with the near completion of our re-fleeting program and the continued expansion of our operations both in the domestic and regional markets," Gokongwei said. "Today, we have the most domestic destinations, flights and routes. We also offer the lowest fares and operate the youngest fleet in the Philippines, and one of the youngest in Asia."

CEB has been aggressively expanding its regional and domestic operations with the launch of six new regional routes and five new domestic destinations over the past seven months.

"With the recent arrival of our 13th aircraft and our 14th aircraft in February, we will continue opening new routes and serving new destinations. We start our second daily frequency to Dumaguete on January 25, we are increasing our frequency to Korea from 10 times weekly to 17 times weekly, and we also start flying to Jakarta by the end of the month," Gokongwei added.

CEB is expecting to carry more than 5 million passengers in 2007.

Now in its 11th year, CEB operates 13 brand new Airbus aircraft with an average fleet age of less than a year, to its 20 domestic and a number of international destinations. The airline's re-fleeting program will be completed next month.