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MANILA, Philippines – The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) — the main gateway to and the largest airport in the Philippines — is among the world’s busiest airports, according to aviation think tank Center for Aviation (CAPA).
For the week of December 31, 2012 to January 6, 2013, it served 829,348 total seats, making it the 34th busiest airport.
Topping the list are Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport.
“Atlanta has seen out 2012 as the world’s busiest airport, but it looks set to lose that title to Beijing Capital Airport in 2013,” CAPA said in a report.
The following are the Top 10 airports based on number of seats per week:
Location | Seats per week | Rank |
---|---|---|
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport | 1,927,531 | 1 |
Beijing Capital International Airport | 1,918,574 | 2 |
Tokyo Haneda Airport | 1,813,291 | 3 |
London Heathrow Airport | 1,668,272 | 4 |
Dubai International Airport | 1,587,901 | 5 |
Los Angeles International Airport, | 1,442,395 | 6 |
Hong Kong International Airport | 1,435,824 | 7 |
Chicago O’Hare International Airport | 1,390,176 | 8 |
Singapore Changi Airport | 1,388,096 | 9 |
Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport | 1,374,546 | 10 |
These data complement the previous Airports Council International’s (ACI) ranking of the Philippines as among the Top 50 airports in the world.
While CAPA ranks airports based on seats per week, ACI bases it on passenger movements, or both arriving and departing passengers.
This was how ACI ranked NAIA in previous years:
YEAR | PASSENGER MOVMENTS | RANK |
---|---|---|
2011 | 29,552,264 | 46th |
2010 | 27,119,899 | 49th |
2009 | 24,108,825 | 51st |
2008 | 22,253,158 | 57th |
2007 | 20,467,627 | 64th |
2006 | 17,660,697 | 73rd |
2005 | 16,216,031 | 77th |
2004 | 15,186,521 | 75th |
2003 | 12,955,809 | 81st |
Less flights, more seats
The number of passengers passing through NAIA in 2012 increased despite the decrease in number of flights in the terminal.
Based on data from NAIA, it handled a total of 31,558,002 airplane passengers in 2012. It increased by 6.2% from 29,702,458 in 2011.
But there were only 214,354 flights or lower than the 218,925 flights in 2011.
Of the 2012 figure, 13,928,034 passengers boarded international flights and 17,629,968 passengers boarded domestic flights.
The budget airline industry has been soaring, aided by promotional fares, while the government has vowed to record tourist arrival goal of 6 million by 2016.
Structural works
International travel website Frommer’s earlier earlier included NAIA Terminal 1 in their list of 10 Worst Airport Terminals.
Structural and beautification works on NAIA-1 will be finished by 2014, based on the government timeline.
In October, Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the P1.64-billion-worth rehabilitation and facelift of the airport terminal will take “18 to 19 months” to complete.
The original deadline was mid-2013. The delay was largely due to issues regarding building standards to follow in addressing the terminal’s airport defects.
“More of our concerns are the structural defects of Terminal 1,” Abaya told reporters. – Rappler.com
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