Kalibo airport passenger volume up to 1.2 M in six months

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

The volume of passengers at Kalibo International Airport (KIA) reached 1,262,263 for both international and domestic flights from January to June of the year.

In 2012, the Kalibo airport posted 1.832 million passengers or 450,000 higher than the 1,378,000 passengers in 2011.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Kalibo records showed that the airport also recorded 400,896 international passengers and 3,492 flights both incoming and outgoing for the first six months this year. 

KIA gets an average of 22 international flights daily or 35 percent of the flight operations. On average, the Kalibo airport accommodates 2,348 passengers daily from regional flights of low-cost budget carriers.

KIA also services international flights from Pusan and Incheon in South Korea; Taipei in Taiwan; the cities of Nanjing, Ningbo, Beijing and the Pudong District of Shanghai in mainland China; Singapore, Hongkong, Russia, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. 

For its domestic flights, the Kalibo International Airport recorded 7,356 with 861,727 arriving and departing passengers to the cities of Manila and Cebu. 

KIA also reported an average of 41 domestic aircraft operations (landings and take-offs) transporting 4,760 passengers daily. 

All-in-all, the months of January, April and May recorded 485,582 domestic passengers coming to and departing Kalibo International Airport. Passenger volume of international flights was also strong in the months of February, May and June with 215,273 passengers.  

Air cargo volume carried in January to June also reached 1.256 million kg for domestic flights. 

To serve the growing passenger traffic and volume of flights, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) has started working for the full-scale development of Kalibo International Airport.

The national agency has to submit the P6-billion proposal to National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) for evaluation and approval of President Benigno S. Aquino III and the NEDA director-general.