The Philippines’ air passenger volume dropped 74 percent to 2.95 million in the first half of the year from 11.3 million passengers that flew in the same period last year, due to travel restrictions to combat the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Latest data from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) showeddomestic air passengers fell by 67 percent to 2 million in the first semester from 5.99 million passengers last year.
The international passenger traffic was also significantly affected with just 957,573 passengers in the six-month period, down 82 percent from 5.3 million a year ago. Of the total, 390,960 flew via the domestic carriers and 566,613 by foreign carriers, the CAB said.
Air passenger volume six months into the year was significantly lower compared to pre-COVID levels of 30.5 million passengers during the first half of 2019.
Cebu Pacific, and its subsidiary Cebgo carried 1.07 million passengers in the first semester, of which 1 million took domestic flights and 57,136 flew international flights. The passenger volume for the period was down by 74 percent from last year.
Philippines Airlines (PAL) and its unit PAL Express flew 1.02 million passengers in the first half of 2021, with 700,965 accounting for the domestic market and 320,284, international — still down 67 percent from last year.
AirAsia Philippines had 279,001 passengers in the first semester, of which 274,809 flew via domestic and 4,792 via international flights.
Four airlines have stopped domestic operations: AirJuan Aviation Inc., Astro Air International Inc., Royal Air Charter Service Inc. and Magnum Air (Skyjet) Inc.
Royal Air Charter Service and Astro Air International have continued their international operations with 3,711 and 5,037 passengers carried, respectively, during the period.
Other airlines such as AirSwift Transport Inc. carried 6,156 passengers in the domestic market and Island Aviation Corp,, 2,722 passengers.
