Eastern Visayas air passenger traffic up 24%

TACLOBAN CITY, April 26   -- Air passenger movement has increased significantly last year primarily driven by lower fare rates and commercial operations of airports outside the regional capital.

In an economic situationer report released by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Thursday, air passengers in Eastern Visayas has increased by 24 percent to 1.55 million last year from 1.25 million in 2016.

The Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in this city, considered as the region’s gateway, served 93 percent of the total number of passengers in the Region 8 last year.

NEDA also noted significant increase of air passenger movements in Calbayog Airport in Samar, Catarman Airport in Northern Samar, and Ormoc Airport in western part of Leyte province.

“The influx of passengers could be traced to the lower fare rates offered by airline companies and normalcy in airline operations,” NEDA Regional Director Bonifacio Uy said in a mobile phone interview.

Diversion of flights to Clark last year resulted to lower airfare to Samar Island from Luzon.

Reached for comment, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Eastern Visayas area manager Danilo Abarreta said in a mobile phone interview also on Thursday that air traffic movement has been consistently rising in the region over the past years.

“Tacloban is the seventh busiest airport in the country. For Tacloban alone, the airport has an average of 3,000 outbound and inbound passengers every day since this is the gateway of the region,” Abarreta told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

The city’s domestic airport has regular daily flights to Manila, Cebu, Davao and Clark.

Smaller airports in Naval, Biliran and Maasin City, Southern Leyte also accommodated more air passengers with the launching of new routes from and to Cebu by Air Juan last year.

CAAP has asked Air Juan to expand its operations in Eastern Visayas to link the region to more popular destinations in Luzon and Visayas.

Abarreta said it is easier to encourage Air Juan to fly to less popular destinations, considering that the domestic airline firm only uses nine-seater Cessna Grand Caravan airplanes capable of landing in shorter runways, even with rough surface. (SQM/PNA)