IN JUST three weeks, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) lost some 320,000 passengers as Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, prompted travel bans and spooked travelers.
But now that the Philippine travel ban has been partially lifted for Hong Kong and Macau, there’s still no guarantee that all the overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and students who want to go there will be able to.
“From Jan. 25 to Feb. 17, there was a reduction of a little over 16 percent in international passengers (from the same period a year ago),” Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Ed Monreal said in a press briefing in Manila on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020.
“Domestic travel also fell a little over three percent, if you talk about the passenger impact,” he added.
Monreal said the number of international passengers fell 16.74 percent to 1,352,692 from 1,624,698 in the same three-week period last year, while the number of domestic passengers dipped 3.42 percent to 1,406,876 from 1,456,705.
He said for the full year 2019, nearly 47 million passengers combined arrived and departed at Naia’s domestic and international terminals 1 to 4.
Travel restrictions
On Feb. 2, after the World Health Organization declared a global emergency the novel coronavirus outbreak that was first reported in China, the Philippines imposed a ban on travelers coming directly from China and its Special Administrative Regions (SAR) Hong Kong and Macau, or who had been there in the 14 days preceding their arrival in the Philippines, except for Filipino citizens and permanent resident visa holders.
After some confusion, Taiwan was added to the ban a week later. But the Taiwan ban was lifted on Feb. 14 after Taiwan sought reconsideration.
On Feb. 18, the travel ban to Hong Kong and Macau was also partially lifted to allow Filipinos and their foreign spouses or children and holders of diplomatic visas, entry to the Philippines subject to the required 14-day quarantine, as well as to allow permanent SAR residents, OFWs and Filipinos leaving abroad for study to travel to the SAR.
Will there be enough flights, though, to bring all the OFWs and students back to Hong Kong and Macau?
“Right now, it’s foreign carriers that are flying. But they’re flying on a reduced capacity.” Monreal said. “For the local carriers, the challenge is the required quarantine for the crew.”
If the crew had to be quarantined for 14 days every time they returned from flights to China, Hong Kong and Macau, eventually, it would take a toll on their crew numbers.
“But hopefully, by this week, there will already be a resolution on that,” Monreal said.
Monreal said to improve the passenger numbers, there was an ongoing discussion on giving the slots vacated due to a cutback on international flights to airlines to spur domestic tourism.
“We have a decrease in slots now because of the ban on flights to and from China. And (Transportation) Secretary (Arthur) Tugade gave a directive to discuss giving the airlines the slack, yung hindi nililipad (the flights not being flown). And we are encouraging them to have domestic flights to increase domestic tourism. Airlines already have substitute flights for those flights na iniwanan nila (they are no longer flying).”
Target arrivals
The Department of Tourism is targeting 12 million international and 89 million domestic tourist arrivals in the country by 2022, said Department of Finance Assistant Secretary Tony Lambino.
In line with this, investments in airport infrastructure have been a big part of the Build, Build, Build program of the Duterte administration.
By 2022, investments in infrastructure, including the investments for new airports, are expected to reach the equivalent of seven percent of the country’s gross domestic product, including the investments for new airports, Lambino said.
“Since we (President Rodrigo Duterte) came to office in July 2016, we have inaugurated 11 major aviation projects including the new Communications Navigation Surveillance and Air Traffic Management System, three international airports, and seven domestic airports,” said Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines Director General Jim Sydiongco.
He added that there were 166 ongoing projects in airports, including work in the Bicol International Airport, Surigao Airport and Kalibo Airport; the second passenger terminal building (PTB) of the Clark International Airport; the rehabilitation and expansion of the Davao International Airport’s existing PTB; the lot acquisition and earthworks for the construction of Bukidnon Airport’s runway; the improvement of the runway and site acquisition of the area for Ozamiz Airport’s new PTB; and expansion of the apron and PTB of the General Santos airport.