MANILA, Philippines — Airline companies are preparing for the surge of travelers during the upcoming Holy Week due to “revenge travel.”
Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Monday both noted that this year’s Holy Week break is the first lenten season since the COVID-19 pandemic with little to no travel restrictions.
According to the PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna, they expect a 15 to 20 percent increase in passengers, similar to the trend of the pre-pandemic lent season.
“We are expecting a 15% to 20% increase, sapagkat ‘yun ang peg ng increase pre-pandemic, and with revenge travel, we are hoping that we can have the same level or we can have even more,” she said in a public briefing on Monday.
PAL is also fully manned even before the Holy Week, with a normal arrival level of 18,000 passengers in Terminal 2 and 6,700 passengers in Terminal 1.
“Ngayon po na peak season, handang handa na po ang ating airport team to meet passenger demand,” Villaluna added.
(Now that it’s peak season, our airport team is ready to meet passenger demand.)
The flag carrier will also allow passengers to check in as early as six hours before their departure to avoid overcrowding.
Amid passengers traveling for long vacations, PAL has also increased the frequency of flights in areas with high passenger congestion, such as Caticlan in Aklan and Coron in Palawan as tourist destinations.
For its part, Cebu Pacific, in preparation for the surge of passengers, has its personnel and staff available for customer service until April 8.
Cebu Pacific spokesperson Carmina Romero reminded the passengers to arrive on time to avoid delays and congestion in counters.
“For domestic flights, be there three hours before your departure. Dati po two hours, ngayon sabi namin three hours before departure nasa airport na po kayo. Kung international naman po ang flights, four hours before departure,” Romero said in the same public briefing.
(For domestic flights, [passengers] should be there three hours before your departure. Before [the lenten season], it was two hours, now we made it three hours before departure. Passengers have to be at the airport. When it comes to international flights, it’s four hours before departure.)
The budget carrier also said they would consistently monitor and respond to passengers’ concerns as they expect the surge of demands.
– Denver Godezano, INQUIRER.net trainee
RELATED STORIES
CAAP: Airports on heightened alert during Holy Week, April 2-10
BI expects 40,000 to 50,000 daily arrivals, departures in summer, Holy Week