Domestic air travel rose 9 percent year-on-year in the first half despite the closure of Boracay Island for six months starting April 26.
Data from the Civil Aeronautics Board showed the number of domestic passengers reached 13.92 million in January to June, up from 12.78 million travelers in the same period last year.
International traffic also increased 11.9 percent to 13.83 million passengers in the six-month period from 12.36 million passengers a year earlier.
Cebu Pacific flew the most number of domestic passengers with 6.24 million, up 1.6 percent from last year’s 6.14 million domestic passengers.
This was followed by PAL Express with 3.21 million passengers, down 3.8 percent from 3.34 million last year.
Philippine Airlines carried 869,492 passengers, up 56 percent from 554,835 last year. Philippines Air Asia flew 2.35 million passengers, a huge improvement from 1.59 million passengers last year.
Cebgo carried 920,072domestic passengers, higher by 1.4 percent than 907,297 domestic passengers a year ago. Magnun Air served 155,490 domestic passengers in the six-month period, up from 136,396 domestic passengers last year.
Other domestic airlines are AirSwift Transport Inc. and AirJuan Aviation Inc.
Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines carried the most number of international passengers with 3.77 million in the six-month period, followed by Cebu Pacific with 2.57 million international passengers.
Philippines Air Asia flew 811,902 million international passengers in the first half.
Foreign carriers carried a total of 6.52 million international passengers, up 12.8 percent from 5.78 million last year.
Data from the Tourism Department showed that international visitor arrivals increased 11.2 percent in the first seven months to 4.26 million from 3.83 million a year ago.
This was led by a 40-percent growth in arrivals from China to 764,094 in January to July from 545,725 in the same period last year.