TRAFFIC in secondary airports in the Philippines will help fuel the government’s goal of growing the commercial aviation sector by double digits this year, with two of the leading airlines now looking at expanding their operations in budding and existing hubs throughout the country.
Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmel L. Arcilla said the government expects that both international and domestic air-traffic volumes will increase by as much as 10 percent in 2019 on the back of the rising demand for direct connectivity to tourism areas.
“We are almost consistent in growing our volumes by 10 percent or 11 percent. We expect the same for this year. It will be driven by the expected growth in Manila, but most of the growth may come from the secondary airports due to more direct flights,” he said in an interview.
In absolute terms, a 10-percent growth in terms of volume would mean 5 million more passengers this year. This means that air-traffic volumes should reach the 59-million mark by end-December.
For 2018, international scheduled passenger traffic grew by 10 percent to 26.85 million passengers from 24.37 million passengers the year prior, while domestic traffic expanded by 12 percent to 27.83 million passengers from 24.81 million passengers.
Arcilla explained that the secondary airports will help fuel this year’s growth target, as airlines mount more flights in other hubs due to slot and capacity constraints at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
Cebu Pacific COO Michael Ivan S. Shau said his group sees secondary airports as growth drivers for the company, as demand for direct connectivity to certain tourist destinations continues to rise.
“We are very much interested in the development of Clark. We have increased the capacity of our Clark-Davao, Clark-Panglao and Clark-Cebu routes. We feel that we can serve the market in Clark and grow our secondary routes,” he said.
Shau also mentioned the airports in Cebu and Davao as two others where Cebu Pacific would like to expand internationally.
Philippine Airlines (PAL) Vice President of Sales Ryan T. Uy noted that his group also sees the strategic and critical role of secondary airports for the development of the local aviation industry.
He explained that due to slot constraints in Manila, his group is developing hubs such as Clark, Cebu, Davao and Kalibo.
“The beauty is we are not dependent on Manila only. We also have Cebu, where we fly to five international destinations. We also have Clark, Davao and Kalibo. We are able to utilize different hubs, and we are adding new destinations, mounting new flights and increasing frequencies to some key markets,” he said.
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons