FORTY two commercial airports in the country have been placed on high alert in preparation for the coming holiday season passenger surge, said the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
The CAAP said it tapped the Office of Transportation Security and the Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group to provide additional personnel and to tighten security measures before the upcoming rush of passengers.
“In 2019, CAAP airports welcomed a total 29,258,258 passengers from January to December 2019, with 2,537,774 passengers who travelled during the month of December,” the CAAP said.
“In 2020, a significant decrease was seen, as only 6,659,113 passengers travelled from January to December 2020, with only 245,141 passengers travelled in December 2020.”
“Last year, passenger volume reached 1,007,842 in December, while 5,136,075 passengers were recorded from January to December 2021,” it added.
This year, 16 million passengers were observed from January to October 2022, a major increase compared with pandemic numbers.
The CAAP attributed the 2022 passenger increase to COVID-19 travel restrictions in 2020 and 2021, specifically describing the uptick as a “trend of pent-up demand for tourism.”
Annual passenger total goes up between 7% to 10% every year, the agency estimated based on its pre-pandemic data.
