Air travel rose 6.7 percent in the first half to 25.12 million domestic and international passengers from 23.54 million served by airlines last year, data from the Civil Aeronautics Boards show.
CAB said domestic traffic increased 12.8 percent to 12.79 million in January to June from 12.26 million passengers in the same period last year.
Cebu Pacific remained the country’s largest domestic airline as it flew 6.14 million passengers in the first semester, down 4.6 percent from last year’s 6.44 million passengers.
It was followed by PAL Express with a total passenger traffic of 3.35 million, up 36.7 percent from last year’s 2.45 million passengers.
Philippines Air Asia Inc. ranked third with 1.5 million passengers, up 18.7 percent from 1.34 million passengers a year earlier.
CEBGo, a subsidiary of Cebu Pacific, posted a 24.8-percent increase in passenger traffic to 907,297 from last year’s 727,000 passengers.
Philippine Airlines carried 554,835 passengers, down 51.4 percent from last year’s 1.14 million passengers.
AirSwift Transport Inc., Magnum Air and Air Juan Aviation registered 93,611 passengers, 136,396 passengers and 8,893 passengers, respectively.
International passenger traffic went up 9.6 percent to 12.36 million passengers in the first half from 11.28 million passengers a year ago.
Foreign airlines carried 5.79 million passengers in the six-month period , up 4.7 percent from last year’s 5.53 million passengers.
Domestic carriers flew 6.58 million international passengers, or 14.4 percent higher than last year’s 5.75 million international passengers.
PAL was the number one carrier in the international market with 3.49 million passengers, up from 2.98 million international passengers it carried in the first semester of 2016.
Cebu Pacific carried 2.43 million international passengers in the first half, also up from last year’s 2.28 million international passengers.
Philippines Air Asia had 651,642 international passengers in January to June, higher than last year’s 423,725 international passengers.