MIAA makes steady progress
NAIA

MIAA makes steady progress

Feb 25, 2023, 1:32 AM
Benjamin Lim

Benjamin Lim

Writer

With NAIA recovering pre-pandemic passenger volume and pre-pandemic flight movements, its operator - Manila International Airport Authority - foresees a busier 2023.

Flight activity and passenger volumes at the country's main gateway this year has gradually improved as it recorded 22,815 flights and 3,766,546 passengers in January.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), operator of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), said the premier airport has recovered 65 percent of its pre-pandemic passenger volume and 82 percent of its pre-pandemic flight movements and is hopeful "to sustain this momentum as more nations open their borders, more restrictions are lifted, and more people rediscover their renewed love of travel."

The MIAA said it is on track to return to its pre-pandemic levels of flight activity and passenger volumes in 2019, wherein 22,165 flights and 4,058,236 passengers were recorded in January that year.

"Looking back at 2022, despite a slow start to the year due to the Omicron variant and other global concerns, air travel rebounded strongly, with the Ninoy Aquino International Airport welcoming nearly 30.9 million passengers, an increase of more than 300 percent from the 7.67 million passengers it had in 2021. More than twice as many planes have taken off and landed since 2021, jumping from 104 thousand to 221 thousand," the MIAA said in a statement.

It added that the year ended on a strong note, with NAIA posting its highest monthly passenger volume - 1,485,968 in December 2022 - since the start of the pandemic.

The steady progress was attributed to the significant increase to people's renewed confidence to travel, the MIAA said, even though the numbers are still well below the agency's 2019 recorded volume of 47.69 million passengers, MIAA remains optimistic that 2023 would be a busier year for NAIA.

According to the airlines operating at the NAIA, international and domestic advance bookings for 2023 have grown rapidly.

MIAA General Manager Cesar Chiong said, "We have high hopes and expectations for 2023 because of the increasing trend not only in the Philippines but in other countries as well. We believe that what we are experiencing is people's reawakened desire to travel."

The airport chief explained that after being isolated by the Covid-19 pandemic, people are eager to see the world again and cross items off their bucket lists that they had put off for more than two years.

Tags: #graduallyimproving, #despiteslowstart, #volumeofpassengers, #flightmovements, #significantincrease, #miaanaia


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