The Manila International Airport Authority has recorded a decrease in the number of domestic flight movements at the country’s main gateway in 2018 due to the bigger planes now flown by airlines.
MIAA 2018 records showed that the number of domestic flight movements at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was at 145,881, down by 2.34 percent or 3,490 flights, compared to 149,371 in 2017.
Despite this, according to MIAA general manager Eddie Monreal, passenger throughput increased by 5.11 percent or an additional 1,077,273 passengers for a total of 22,142,186 domestic passenger traffic.
Monreal explained that the decline in domestic flight movements was attributed to the utilization of bigger aircraft to service the different domestic routes of airline companies in order to optimize the use of runway slotting.
Domestic cargo movement also decreased by 8.20 percent, down to 283,306 metric tons. The decrease of 25,591, the MIAA said, is attributable to the inverse relationship between domestic flights and passenger movement because of the new wide body airplanes.
The MIAA added that even the number of operation and passenger movement at the General Aviation sector saw an increase of 14.11 percent in its operation with 3,754 more flight movements for a total of 30,358 for 2018.
At the same time, passenger movement also increased by 29.88 percent, or 51,478 for a total of 223,284 passengers at the General Aviation. Most of these General Aviation flights bring passengers to and from remote resort islands in Palawan, Quezon, Siargao, and Sulu.
There was no recorded cargo movement in General Aviation due to the ban on fish run operations, the MIAA said.
Meanwhile, international flight operations had improved by 4.42 percent, or 4,822 flights for a total of 113,817 flight movements.
According to MIAA, with the increase, passenger throughput also went up by 9.62 percent, or 2,015,939 passengers for a total of 22,973,510.
“The big rise in passenger throughput, even though the rate of flight movement is not as high, can be credited to the increase in use of wide-body airplanes that can accommodate more passengers per flight,” said Monreal.
Cargo movement in international operations increased by 8.46 percent, or 35,269 metric tons. Total cargo movement in 2018 has a total of 452,392 metric tons.