Two of the country’s main air gateways, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA), posted different performances in cargo volume in the first 11 months of 2014, separate data from the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) showed.
NAIA recorded a 14.61% improvement in traffic from January to November last year, handling 474,012.25 metric tons (mt) of cargo from 413,596.57 mt in the same period in 2013.
Of the total, foreign cargoes made up 68.1% or 322,761.86 mt, a 21.1% increment over 2013’s volume of 266,596.36 mt.
Domestic cargoes, which contributed 31.9%, rose 2.9% in the first nine months of 2014 to 151,250.39 mt from 147,000.21 mt in the same period in 2013.
On the other hand, MCIA posted an 8.4% drop in cargo volume in the first 11 months of 2014. Cargoes handled during this period reached 50.803 million kilograms compared with the 55.468 million kilos recorded in the same period in 2013.
Of the total, domestic cargoes, which accounted for 72.5%, declined 11.4% to 36.85 million kilos from 41.6 million kilos in 2013.
International cargoes represented 27.5% of the total or 13.953 million kilos, 0.6% up from 13.869 million kilos in the year before.
Passenger volume was rosy for MCIA last year with 6.234 million recorded, 28% higher than the 4.873 million in January to November 2013.
Flight traffic was likewise positive with a 5.7% increase to 51,977 from 49,177 in 2013.
According to the Department of Transportation and Communications, 2014 was a “banner year” for the country’s aviation sector with the lifting of the ban on Philippine carriers by the United States Federal Aviation Agency and the European Union, as well as with the start of full operations at NAIA Terminal 3 and the improvements at NAIA Terminal 1.
The P1.3-billion rehabilitation of NAIA Terminal 1 is set to be 95% complete by the end of February 2015, with the remaining 5% described as finishing works that are not expected to affect passenger areas and seen to be completed by May.
Last year, the 25-year concession to construct a world-class international terminal and refurbish the existing terminal at MCIA was bagged by the GMR-Megawide consortium. – Roumina Pablo
