Local air travel skyrockets in Q1

MANILA, Philippines — Airlines flew more than seven million passengers in the first quarter as air travel in the Philippines is expected to close in, if not hit, pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year.

Data from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) showed domestic passenger volume reached a total of 7.06 million in the first quarter as the country stayed out of COVID-19 lockdown during the period.

Should the trend be sustained for the rest of the year, domestic passenger traffic is likely to hit 28.24 million by the close of 2023, bordering on the pre-pandemic record of 29.54 million in 2019.

From January to March, low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific and its regional unit Cebgo Inc. accounted for over half of the domestic passenger volume at 3.66 million and exceeded its pre-crisis capacity on the local end as it raised its flight frequencies to serve the resurgent demand.

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) and its budget option PAL Express flew 1.99 million or 28 percent of the total domestic passengers during the period, followed by budget carrier AirAsia Philippines that serviced 1.29 million passengers.

Small-scale carriers AirSwift Transport Inc. flew 104,975 domestic passengers, followed by Royal Air Charter Service Inc. with 31,269, Sunlight Express Airways with 7,231 and Island Aviation Corp. with 2,525.

On the other hand, CAB said that international passenger volume hit 3.8 million between January and March, reaching 39 percent of the 2022 record of 9.83 million amid the recovery of air travel abroad.

At this rate, however, international passenger traffic is likely to reach 15.2 million by the end of the year, equivalent to half of the pre-pandemic level of 30.53 million in 2019.

Unlike for domestic travel, airlines found it difficult to scale up their foreign flights at the start of 2023 due to uncertainties in border restrictions.

Airlines resumed their operations in China only in January, as Beijing took too long to lift health restrictions against the virus.

For the international segment, Lucio Tan’s PAL led all Philippine carriers by flying 1.34 million passengers or 35 percent of the total international volume in the first quarter.

Gokongwei-led Cebu Pacific landed next with 230,895, while AirAsia Philippines came in third with 225,032.

During the period, foreign carriers flew 1.97 million passengers or 52 percent of the international passenger traffic, while domestic airlines took the remainder of the total at 1.84 million.

PAL and Cebu Pacific, both listed at the local bourse, posted net incomes of P4.51 billion and P1.08 billion in the first quarter, respectively, gaining from the sustained demand pickup for air travel here and overseas.