MANILA, Philippines – Air traffic in the Philippines slipped close to three percent in the first quarter of the year amid the slight decline in international passengers with budget airline Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific) emerging as the preferred airline of passengers.
Data released by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) yesterday showed that air traffic in the Philippines reached 9.32 million from January to March this year or about 254,000 lower compared to 9.576 million in the same period last year.
Volume of domestic passengers inched up 1.5 percent to 5.137 million in the first quarter from 5.062 million in the same period last year while volume of international passengers slipped by 7.1 percent to 4.18 million from 4.5 million.
Gokongwei-led Cebu Pacific dominated the domestic market as it flew 2.65 million passengers followed by national flag carrier Philippine Airlines Inc. and PAL Express with 1.658 million, AirAsia Zest with 514,761; Tiger Airways Philippines with 216,169; AirAsia with 74,739; Island Voyager with 17,841; and Magnum Air with 3,768.
In terms of traffic of international passengers, Philippine carriers flew 2.27 million passengers while foreign airlines carried 1.91 million passengers.
PAL, jointly owned by taipan Lucio Tan and diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) flew 1.23 million passengers in the first quarter while its unit PAL Express carried 36,898 passengers.
Source: Lawrence Agcaoili, philstar.com
Aviation News Philippines 
SO,, ANO PA INAANTAY NG MAY KINAUUKULAN SA NAIA PAYAGAN NYO NA KASI MGA INT’L AINRLINES NA GUSTO MAG ROUTA SA PINAS GAYA NG JET AIRWAYS LTD (INDIA) AT OMAN AIR.
Limited slots na kasi sa NAIA Allen kaya may restrictions. Sad but that’s how NAIA is run.
Oman Air will soon fly to MNL. They already got the time slot that they want for their Muscat-MNL flight.