Promo fares hike Jan-Mar domestic air traffic by 13% to 5.16-M

MANILA, Philippines – Promotional fares offered by, as well as expansions of, domestic airlines hiked air traffic in the first 3 months of the year by 13% to 5.16 million from 4.57 million a year ago, data from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) showed.

“Their promotional fares did help a lot. It’s a major factor as to why this industry is growing,” CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla said on Thursday, May 10.

He also added that growth was expected to continue as airlines added seat capacity and flight frequencies.

Gokongwei-led Cebu Pacific Air continued to carry the most number of domestic passengers, accounting for 52.5% of the total 5,198,898 passengers during the period.

San Miguel-led Philippine Airlines remained the far second with 21% of the local market. Airphil Express is PAL’s budget arm.

Newest entrant, AirAsia Philippines, flew its first local flight only in late March.

Below is the breakdown:

A total of 1,471,336 seats were allocated for the first three months of the year, representing a load factor of 74%.
 
Load factor represents the number of seats occupied during a flight.
 
Meantime, the 5 airlines transported a total of 45,742,570 kilograms (kgs) in the first quarter versus 39,806,065 kgs in the same period last year. Below is the breakdown:

– Rappler.com