MIAA: Passenger volume decreases due to COVID-19
MANILA, Philippines — International passenger volume at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminals dropped by 16 percent (300,000 passengers) while domestic passenger volume dropped by 3 percent t (50,000 passengers) due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) threat, airport authorities said on Wednesday.
“We have tracked down since January 25 up to two days ago, February 17, ang kabawasan po ng mga pasahero sa international base ho sa aming pagtatala ay umabot na ho ng almost a little over 16 percent on that particular period,” Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Ed Monreal said in a press briefing.
(We have tracked down since January 25 up to two days ago, February 17, the decline in the volume of international passengers by a little over 16 percent.)
“Nabawasan din po ang domestic travelers a little over 3 percent,” Monreal added.
(The domestic travelers also lessened to a little over 3 percent.)
Based on data provided by the MIAA, international passengers from January 25 to February 17, 2020, decreased to 1,352,692, from 1,624,698 recorded over the same period last year.
The volume of domestic passengers also decreased to 1,406,976 from January 25 to February 17, 2020.
A total of 1,456,705 domestic passengers were recorded over the same period last year.
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a travel ban to China and its special administrative regions to contain the spread of the virus.
The travel ban was later expanded to cover Taiwan.
The ban, however, was immediately lifted after Taiwan threatened to impose retaliatory measures.
Monreal said the volume of passengers has slightly increased after the travel ban to Taiwan was lifted and said that the travel market is “slowly recovering.”
“Nadagdagan na ng konti yan dahil yung Taipei ay nawala na ho sa banned destination (The number has slightly increased because the travel ban on Taipei was lifted),” Monreal said.
“Ngayon po, [it’s] slowly recovering because meron po tayong pagbabago sa mga panukala dahil sa paguusap ng task force na pinapatupad na ho paunti unti. Hopefully it will recover soon,” he said.
(Now it’s slowly recovering because we have changes in directives because of the implementation of the task force’s discussions. Hopefully, it will recover soon.)
