The Civil Aeronautics Board said Tuesday domestic air passenger traffic increased 408.9 percent in the first nine months from a year ago amid the easing of travel restrictions.
Data from CAB showed that domestic passenger volume reached 15.93 million from January to September.
This was more than four times higher than 3.13 million local passengers monitored in the same period last year when mobility restrictions were still in place.
The Philippines lifted most travel restrictions in the first quarter this year to help in the economic recovery from the pandemic.
Cebu Pacific remained the country’s leading domestic airline with a total of 2.54 million passengers flown in the nine-month period.
It was followed by PAL Express with 2.54 million passengers, Philippines AirAsia with 2.44 million and Philippine Airlines with 1.54 million passengers.
Cebgo, a unit of Cebu Pacific, carried total domestic passengers of 930,096, while AirSwift Transport Inc. flew 135,066 passengers.
International passenger volume reached 6.3 million in the first nine months, led by PAL, which carried 2.15 million passengers in the nine-month period.
Cebu Pacific followed with 251,632 passengers flown, Philippines AirAsia with 73,577 passengers, Royal Charter Service with 837 passengers and Astro Air International with 119 passengers.