The Philippine air travel market expanded by 25.6 percent in the first half of 2024, driven by the continued recovery of international passenger traffic, according to the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB).
Data from the CAB showed that domestic and international passenger traffic reached 29.51 million from January to June this year, up from 23.49 million passengers in the same period last year.
The domestic passenger traffic went up by 8.24 percent in the six-month period to 15.76 million from 14.56 million a year ago.
Cebu Pacific remained the country’s leading domestic carrier with 6.94 million passengers, followed by PAL Express with 4.41 million passengers; AirAsia Philippines, 2.60 million; Cebgo, 1.19 million; and Philippine Airlines, 262,261.
AirSwift Transport Inc. carried 254,667 passengers, while Sunlight Express Airways had 66,321 passengers and Royal Air Charger Services Inc. flew 6,795.
International passenger traffic soared 53.9 percent to 13.75 million in the first semester from 8.93 million passengers in the same period last year.
The CAB said of the total, domestic carriers carried 6.47 million passengers, while foreign carriers flew 7.27 million.
Philippine Airlines (PAL) was the country’s leading carrier for the international travel market with 2.94 million passengers, followed by Cebu Pacific with 2.73 million and AirAsia Philippines with 698,949.
Royal Air Charter Services and Greater Bay Airlines carried 78,123 passengers and 23,671 passengers, respectively.
Domestic air cargo traffic volume in the first half stood at 109.49 million kilograms, slightly down from 109.8 million kg. in the same period last year.
Cebu Pacific and Cebgo carried a total cargo volume of 44.94 million kg. of cargo, while PAL Express and PAL moved 60 million kg. of cargo.
AirAsia Philippines carried 8.90 million kg. of cargo; AirSwift Transport, 2.96 million kg.; Island Aviation, 1.59 million kg.; SEAIR-I Inc., 1.06 million kg.; and Sunlight Express, 7,066 kg.
