NSCB: NAIA busiest PHL airport, stresses need for relocation

According to a report by the National Statistical Coordination Board, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport is the country’s busiest airport, accounting for the most number of passengers from 2001 to 2011. 

 

As such, the NSCB underscored the need to decongest or possibly relocate the country’s main air terminal. Any of these efforts will help ensure on-time departures. 

 

The NSCB is the government’s policy-making and coordinating agency on statistical matters in the Philippines. In its report, the NSCB said total passenger movement in the country’s airports rose by an average rate of 10.1 percent from 2001 to 2011. Data showed that total passenger movement increased to 52.1 million last year from only 19.9 million in 2001, with NAIA accounting for the biggest passenger volume of 19.4 million passengers during the period. 

 

Other busy airports are those in Region VII, Region VI and Region XI while airports in the Cordillera Autonomous Region and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had very minimal passenger movement during the period. 

 

Airports

 

“In 1976, there were 131 registered airports in the country. This increased over the years peaking at 300 airports in 1994 but has declined to 203 airports by 2010 due to the decline in operating private airports,” the NSCB said. 

 

Private airports accounted for 58.1 percent of the total registered airports in the country in 2010, the NSCB also said.

 

Furthermore, NSCB data also showed that out of the 85 national airports operating in the country in 2010, 38 or 44.7 percent are in Luzon, 22 or 25.9 percent are in the Visayas, and the remaining 25 or 29.4 percent are in Mindanao.

 

“More than half 53.9 percent of total passengers in the NCR airports in 2010 were domestic passengers,” the NSCB said. 

 

Airlines

 

Among the domestic airlines, the NSCB said that Gokongwei-owned Cebu Pacific is the most patronized airline for trips to Boracay, with 30.0 percent share of passenger movement in Caticlan, 57.4 percent in Iloilo, and 30.9 percent in Kalibo. 

 

Cebu Pacific also is the favored airline for flights to Davao.

 

Philippine Airlines accounts for a 47.4 percent share of the passenger movement in Tagbilaran, the NSCB said. — DVM, GMA News