Fast growth for PHL aviation despite oil crisis

Despite the global fuel crisis, Philippine aviation emerged as fastest growing in Southeast Asia for April, according to global travel data provider OAG.

OAG’s aviation market data indicated that the Philippines is now the third largest country in the region in terms of flight capacity, with 5.82 million seats recorded in April.

The Philippines follows Indonesia at 10.31 million and Thailand’s 7.9 million. But the Philippines registered the highest growth by volume in a month when jet fuel prices spiked to new levels.

OAF said, “Volume-wise capacity increased the most in the Philippines – where 687,000 seats were added. That is an increase of 13.4 percent compared to last year.”

The Philippines posted the biggest expansion in domestic volume, by 16%, to 4.15 million seats, evading the regional trend of capacity decline.

Indonesia remains the largest domestic market in Southeast Asia, with 8.3 million seats.

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) jumped in number of passenger departures in April, to 2.91 million, landing as fifth busiest airport in the region.

Singapore’s Changi airport remains the standard with 3.49 million, followed by gateways in Kuala Lumpur (3.19 million), Bangkok (3.18 million) and Jakarta (3.07 million).

AirAsia tops the region in seat capacity at 2.8 million, beating Cebu Pacific’s 2.64 million, Thai AirAsia’s 2.18 million and Vietnam Airlines’ 2.13 million.

AirAsia retained its spot at the top of the region despite slight decline in seat capacity. AirAsia recently underwent a corporate restructuring, in the midst of weak demand aggravated by aircraft shortage.

While AirAsia faced challenges, Cebu Pacific hiked its capacity in April, with total seats up by 20%, second-fastest among the region’s biggest airlines.

Cebu Pacific CEO Michael Szucs said they might review its initial target of flying nearly 30 million passengers this year, as travelers reduce non-essential spending to survive rising prices.