THE number of international passengers coming in and out Davao City grew by 31 percent in January to October 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.
Data from Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines in Davao Region (Caap-Davao) bared that the volume of international passengers passing through Francisco Bangoy International Airport or the Davao International Airport has already reached a total of 153,715 passengers from January to October 2019.
This is higher than the 146,569 year-round record of foreign passengers last year.
From January to October this year, there are more passengers bound to foreign destinations with 77,739 than the 75,976 passengers from outside the country.
“Naa tay considerable increase sa atong international kay nanaghan man ang atong mga flights (We have a considerable increase of the international passengers because our international flights have also increased,” Caap-Davao airport Rex Obcena said in an interview with SunStar Davao.
He said the Qatar and Hong Kong flights have notable contributions in the increase.
“Qatar and Hong Kong are so far ang feedback ani nga mga airline, gwapo ang mga load factor. (There is a good load factor for the Qatar and Hong Kong flights. It means, they are operating very well in terms of viability here in Davao,” he said.
He attributed the spike in the volume of international passengers to the improving business climate in the city especially in the tourism industry and its effective promotional activities.
“Naa gyud siguro silay nakita sa Davao nga potential economic factor nga naka-entice sa ilaha to come in (Maybe, they have seen a potential economic factor in Davao that enticed them to come here),” Obcena added.
However, the volume of domestic passengers passing the Davao airport has only spiked slightly according to Obcena.
Based on the data from Caap Davao, there is only about one percent increase in the volume of local passengers, from 3,540,609 in January to October 2018 to 3,580,238 of the same period in 2019.