NAIA saw highest foreign passenger volume since pandemic – MIAA

THE Manila International Airport Authority ( MIAA) on Saturday, May 13, said that, in April, the country’s main ga t e way s aw i t s highest passenger volume and flight movements i n a single month since the coronavirus pandemic.

T h e N i n o y Aq u i n o I n t e r n a t i o n a l A i r por t ( NAIA) handled 1,677,779 international passengers and 9,089 i nternational flights l ast month, MIAA said.

This was more t han double t he number of passengers and planes that have taken off and landed at t he premier gateway compared to April 2022, when there were 663,824 international passengers and 4,494 i nternational flights.

“Summer i s i ndeed a popular time for vacation and i nternational travel, not only f o r F i l i pinos t a k i n g a d v a n t a g e o f airlines’ promotional fares or using travel funds for flights they couldn’t use due to the pandemic, but also for our international visitors wanting to see the Philippines,” said MIAA officer- in- charge Bryan Co.

“After more t han t wo years of closed borders, we expect the momentum of recovery to continue for tourism and the aviation industry,” added C o.

The MIAA acting chief said the NAIA welcomed 1 , 1 7 8 , 4 6 1 p a s s e n g e r s overall in the first 10 days of April as travelers took advantage of the long Holy Week break.

Combined with domestic f i g u r e s , t h e M I A A s a i d NAIA registered a total of 3,666,503 passengers and 2 2 , 8 1 6 f l i g h t s i n A p r i l 2023.

The t otal number of passengers represents a 50 percent rise from the 2,447,795 passengers i n April 2022, and accounts for 86 percent of the 4,261,352 passengers in April 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.

Flight movement also i ncreased by 28 percent compared to the 17,774 flights in the same month last year, and is equivalent to 98 percent of the 23,327 flights in April 2019.

The MIAA said it recorded an average of 75.20 percent flight on- time performance ( OTP) i n April 2023, an i mprovement from April 2022’ s OTP rating of 71.24 percent.