Air passenger traffic in the country has reached 50.9 million in the first nine months of the year, surpassing the full year of 2022’s 31.5 million air passengers, according to latest data from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB).
CAB data showed that international passengers stood at 14.5 million and domestic, 36.4 million, from January to September this year.
These are significantly higher than the full year of 2022’s 9.8 million and 22.5 million international and domestic passengers, respectively.
The surge in passenger volume was driven by revenge travel in the domestic market and the airlines’ aggressive route expansion and competitive fare offerings, CAB said.
The domestic passenger volume in the nine-month period also exceeded the pre-pandemic volume of 29.5 million passengers in 2019.
The number of passengers in the first nine months was likewise higher by 129 percent compared to the same period last year with 15.9 million passengers, as the three local airline operators have reported more than double-digit growth in passenger volume.
Local carriers Cebu Pacific (CEB), Philippine Airlines (PAL) and AirAsia Philippines posted growth in passenger traffic with the aggressive expansion of their operations and their competitive ticket price offerings, as they return to the pre-pandemic level of operations this year.
Gokongwei-owned CEB and its unit CebGo still lead in the domestic market with 19 million passengers served from January to September versus last year’s 9.25 million passengers.
PAL and its unit PAL Express reported a combined passenger volume growth of 156 percent to 10.5 million passengers, from last year’s 4.1 million passengers.
AirAsia Philippines also reported 158 percent growth nine months into the year as it flew 6.2 million passengers, from 2.4 million a year ago.
Meanwhile, airfare is expected to remain stable in December as the fuel surcharge is kept at level 7, the same level in November, according to CAB’s latest advisory.
Effective December 1 to 31, the passenger and cargo fuel surcharge ranges from P219 to P689 for domestic and from P772.71 to P1,124.26 for international flights. The fuel surcharge to be collected is equivalent to P56.7 to a US dollar.
