PHOTO from Cebu Pacific
Cebu Pacific (CebuPac) paid P7.7 billion to settle nearly 1 million refund requests since the COVID-19 pandemic arrived last year and triggered massive flight cancellations. In a statement on Friday, the budget carrier said the settlement cleared 100 percent of the refund backlog until June 2021. But the figure did not include passengers that booked through now-shuttered travel agencies and certain cash bookings. “Cebu Pacific remains concerned about the customers who have not been refunded,” it said, adding that passengers may contact the airline through the guest feedback form on its website. According to Cebu Pacific, it processed a total of 991,764 refund requests during the period. “The COVID-19 pandemic remains the most challenging crisis we’ve faced in recent times,” said Candice Iyog, vice president for marketing and customer experience at Cebu Pacific, in the statement. Cebu Air saw losses from January to March this year balloon over 500 percent to P7.28 billion against the same period in 2020. Total revenues dropped 83 percent to P15.91 billion compared to the same period in 2020. —Miguel R. Camus