The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported Friday, Jan. 6, that there was a notable increase in the number of passenger departure following the airwave technical glitch experienced at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP)-operated airports on New Year’s Day.
BI port operations chief Carlos Capulong said only a total of 19,010 travelers departed on Jan. 1 but the number jumped to more than 41,000 the following day.
He said they continued to process around 34,000 to 37,000 travelers per day in the succeeding days.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that they expect the numbers to further increase as those travelers from cancelled flights are rebooked to new flights.
“Lines are observed at the immigration area during peak hours due to the increase in passengers following the holiday season and recovery of cancelled flights,” Tansingco said.
He added that "while lines are expected both here and in other countries of destination, we can assure that they are expeditiously processed as our officers are in full force."
In 2022, the BI processed a total of 6,132,332 passengers.
Topping the list of departures are Filipinos with 3,917,296, followed by Americans with 611,067 departing travelers.
The number of South Koreans and Australians that departed were 424,193 and 128,859, respectively, while 119,807 Canadians departed on the same year.