ABy Mia A. Aznar+A
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
AIR and sea traffic in Central Visayas stayed “upbeat” for the first half of the year, the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) 7 assessed in a regional economic situation report.
For the aviation industry, the agency cited expansion activities of airline companies as signs the industry was doing well.
The report indicated that Midsea Express has resumed its flights from mainland Cebu to Bantayan Island three times weekly while new player Eagle Transasia Airways has offered daily flights from Cebu to Tacloban.
Cebu Pacific Airways also increased capacity of its flights from Cebu to destinations like Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo and General Santos by upgrading their planes from Airbus 319 to Airbus 320 to accommodate more passengers.
Based on data gathered from the Mactan-Cebu International Airport and Air Transportation Office in Tagbilaran, they noted a 12.1 percent increase in domestic passengers and 11.9 percent rise in international passengers.
Data from the MCIA show that 5.63 million passengers passed through the airport from January to October this year, 2.8 million of which were incoming passengers and 2.82 million were outgoing. The airport served 48,374 flights for the period.
The domestic figures show 4.37 million passing through, 2.18 million of which were incoming visitors of 20,207 incoming flights while 2.188 million were outgoing passengers of 20,228 flights.
For international passengers, 1.25 million passengers from 7,939 flights passed through the airport, with 618,469 incoming passengers from 3,972 incoming flights and 636,578 outgoing passengers from 3,967 outgoing flights.
As for shipping activities, the Neda report stated that the industry sustained its recovery from last year, seeing growth in foreign ship calls.
Domestic ship calls in the region rose 18.6 percent to 79,687 while foreign ship calls grew one percent to 497. The agency reported a 7.1 rise in embarking passengers to 6.28 million and a rise of 8.9 percent in disembarking passengers to 6.24 million.
Domestic cargo throughput rose 33.5 percent to 11.4 million metric tons, a better performance than last year’s drop of 25.5 percent. Container traffic rose 18.9 percent to 212,492 TEU (20-foot equivalent units). Foreign cargo throughput also rose 36.8 percent to 3.4 million metric tons from its drop of 25.8 percent last year while foreign container traffic rose 6.2 percent to 105,840 TEU.
Neda 7 noted a rise in foreign vessel traffic in the ports of Tagbilaran and Alcoy.
They also found increased activity in Matiao Port in Sibulan, Negros Oriental after a shipping line added more vessels to its fleet.
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