MANILA, Philippines — The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has recorded the highest number of international passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For April 2023, there were 1,677,779 international passengers and 9,089 international flights, said MIAA.
MIAA said that this was more than twice the number of passengers and planes compared to April 2022, which saw 663,824 international passengers and 4,494 international flights.
“Combined with domestic figures, NAIA registered a total of 3,666,503 passengers and 22,816 flights in April 2023. This represents a 50 [percent] rise from the 2,447,795 passengers in April 2022, and accounts for 86 [percent] of the 4,261,352 passengers in April 2019, the last full year before the pandemic,” said MIAA in a statement on Friday.
MIAA Officer-in-Charge Bryan Co attributed this to the summer season, adding that people are taking advantage of airline promos and their saved-up travel funds.
“After more than two years of closed borders, we expect the momentum of recovery to continue for tourism and the aviation industry,” Co said.
MIAA also noted that flight movement has increased by 28 percent compared to last year, and it also recorded a 75.20 percent flight on-time percentage for April 2023.
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