Domestic air traffic up 10% in first six months

By Paolo Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:41:00 08/20/2010

THE NUMBER of people who travelled around the country by air rose by more than a tenth in the first six months as improved economic conditions spurred demand, government documents showed.
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) on Friday reported that there were 8.39 million domestic air passengers in the first semester, 10.45-percent higher than the 7.59 million passengers last year.
Gokongwei-led budget carrier Cebu Pacific carried 4.09 million passengers in the six-month period, up 13 percent from 3.614 million last year. This gave the airline a 48.75-percent market share of the domestic air travel industry.

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) had 2.88 million passengers in the same period. This was about 10-percent lower than the 3.21 million passengers the Lucio Tan-led airline carried last year.
However, PAL’s slack was picked up by its sister firm Air Philippines, which carried 667,686 passengers in the period or more than double its 254,244 passengers a year ago.
Air Philippines was repackaged as a budget carrier meant to compete with Cebu Pacific late last year. Part of this move was the transfer of some PAL aircraft to Air Philippines.
Zest Air, owned by local juice magnate Alfred Yao, also registered an increase in its passengers to 616,058 from 433,576 in the January to June period of 2009.

Southeast Asian Airlines or SEAir, meanwhile, had 132,416 passengers in the same period, up from just 83,132 last year.

The CAB had said that it expected air travel this year, particularly in the domestic market, to grow at a double-digit rate as the stronger economy should drive demand.

“Our domestic travel sector has been very vibrant,” CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla earlier said.

Growth will also be driven by stiff competition between local airlines, which should results in lower rates.