Total flights across all airports in the country in 2023 have surpassed the pre-pandemic levels, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) reported on Monday.

There were 280,000 flights last year compared to 250,000 in 2019.

CAAP only operates 44 commercial airports, but spokesperson Eric Apolonio said both figures represent the total flights in all airports across the country.

Over the weekend, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) also reported a 3-percent increase in the flight movements at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in 2023, or 279,953 flights compared to 271,535 flights logged in 2019.

According to CAAP, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista has recognized the Authority’s effort to increase the aircraft movement per hour.

NAIA, for instance, currently caters to 40 aircraft movement per hour, and the target is to increase this to 44 to 48 in line with expansion and privatization.

“CAAP has been requested to improve the air traffic movement per hour. Of course, it’s a big task to have movements per hour up to 40 which never happened in the past. Although I believe that there are instances that we are able to do that already on selected hours,” Bautista was quoted as saying.

In separate statement, MIAA Acting General Manager Eric Jose Ines said last year’s domestic flights at the NAIA was 12 percent more than pre-pandemic.

He attributed the increase to the fact that domestic borders were the first to open when coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) restrictions were lifted.

International flights at the NAIA in 2023, on the other hand, reached 91 percent of the pre-pandemic levels.

Ines said they are encouraged by the renewed confidence in air travel, reaffirming efforts to bring the aviation sector back to pre-pandemic levels. (PNA)