The Philippines’ two main aviation gateways—Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA)—posted different performances in cargo volume processed in the first half of 2016, separate data from Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) showed.
NAIA saw a 6% improvement in air cargo volumes while MCIA suffered a 32% drop.
NAIA handled 293,064.114 metric tons (mt) of air cargo in the first six months of 2016 from 276,279.529 mt in the same period last year. Foreign cargoes, which accounted for 53% of the total, declined 8.5% to 155,281.552 mt from 169,792.15 mt. Domestic air shipments, on the other hand, jumped 29% to 137,782.562 mt from 106,487.379 mt in the previous year.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), data for global air freight demand in June 2016 showed a rise in freight tonne kilometers of 4.3% year-on-year, the fastest pace of growth in 14 months.
Asia-Pacific airlines, in particular, reported a 3.5% increase in demand for air cargo in June compared to last year, with capacity expanding to 3.6%. The Asia-Pacific air freight market has been improving in recent months, IATA said, most notably the large “within Asia” market. Nonetheless freight volumes from “emerging Asia” continue to face headwinds from weak trade in the region and globally.
Flights to NAIA went up 5% to 131,133 from 124,946 last year. Passenger traffic likewise rose 9% to 20.506 million from 18.747 million last year.
Mactan volumes down sharply
Air shipments at MCIA, meanwhile, dropped 32% to 30.87 million kilograms in the first half of this year from 45.598 million kg in the same period last year. Airlifted foreign cargoes reached 7.542 million kg, 25.6% lower than last year’s 10.139 million kg. Domestic air cargo volume likewise declined 34% to 23.328 million kg from 35.459 million kg.
Flights, on the other hand, rose 12.5% to 35,570 from 31,591 while passenger volume jumped 24% to 4.46 million from 3.59 million. – Roumina Pablo
