Cebu Pacific Air, a Gokongwei-led airline, has signed a wet lease agreement with Bulgaria Air to strengthen its fleet next year and help meet the expected increase in passenger demand as air travel recovers.

CEB announced on Tuesday that the deal with Bulgaria Air covers two Airbus 320 CEO aircraft that will service two domestic routes — Cebu and Davao — from January to May 2024.

"We continue to explore various opportunities to supplement the fleet and ensure operational resilience. This includes signing a damp lease agreement with Bulgaria Air for five months in 2024," Cebu Pacific president and chief commercial officer Xander Lao said.

"We expect to increase our fleet to 92 by 2024. With this, we expect our year-on-year seat growth to be within 5 percent to 8 percent in 2024," he added. 

Damp leasing is an agreement between two airlines, where the lessor provides aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance to the lessee.

Expert in aircraft damp lease

Bulgaria Air, the national carrier of the Republic of Bulgaria, is an expert in damp lease of aircraft and has partnered with airlines all over the world.

Driven by the boost in passenger and travel demands, CEB reported a net income of P1.3-billion net income in the third quarter of the year.

The rosy bottom line profits this year was a turnaround from a P2.5-billion net loss in 2022 and P384 million in 2019.

CEB also saw a notable increase in travel demand in the third quarter, attributable to the change in school calendars, which shifted graduation and school breaks from June to August.

This strengthened travel demand not only for domestic but also for international markets — particularly on routes with a high overseas Filipino Workers population.  

From July to September, CEB flew 5.3 million passengers onboard 35,000 flights, which were 27 percent and 18 percent higher year-on-year, respectively.