Domestic traffic up 10% on first half

5J dominates Philippine Airspace

August 21, 2010

With 4.088 million passengers carried for the first half, Low Cost Airline Cebu Pacific dominates domestic airspace by cornering a market share of 48.75 percent, data from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) disclosed on Friday.

CAB said the volume of domestic air passengers rose by 10.45 percent in the first half of the year. The Board reported that there were 8. 39 million domestic air passengers in the first semester, higher than the 7.59 million passengers last year.

Top on the list was Cebu Pacific which carried 4.088 million passengers during the six-month period, an increase of 13 percent from the 3.614 million passengers recorded in the same period last year.

Troubled carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) follows the list with 2.88 million passengers in the first half, a decrease of almost 10 percent from its record of 3.207 million passengers in the same period a year ago. PAL launched its low cost subsidiary in March in a bid to counter the growing market share of Cebu Pacific.

The strategy brought Air Philippines to more than double its market share, which had 667,686 passengers carried in the six-month period as against 254,244 passengers made in 2009.

Zest Air was relegated back to fourth place but still posted a climb in its passenger record in the first half to 616,058, up from 433,576 passengers in the January to June period last year.

Southeast Asian Airlines also grew by carrying 132,416 passengers in the six-month period while it had only 83,132 passengers a year ago.

The CAB said it expects domestic air travel to grow at double-digit rate, driven by stiff competition between local airlines and lower fares.

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