More than 2.9 million passengers are expected to troop to over 40 airports across the country on the days leading to Christmas and New Year, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines’ (CAAP) has disclosed.
The figure, however, does not include the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, and the Caticlan Airport which are run by separate agencies also under the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
For the NAIA alone, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) expects more that three million passengers before the end of December.
CAAP spokesman Eric Apolonio said they expect the number of airline passengers to increase following the government's decision to lift travel restrictions as part of the efforts to revive tourism amid the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic to the economy.
"We expect 2.9 million passengers because more international flights are added and two more airports were opened," said Apolonio.
In anticipation of the influx of passengers, Apolinio said they already placed all the 44 commercial operating airports under highest alert.
Based on the CAAP data, a total of 29,258,258 airline passengers were recorded from January to December 2019, or before the lockdown measures were implemented for Covid-19, around 2.5 million of were recorded in December.
The CAAP, on the other hand, recorded around 18 million passengers from January to November this year.