MIAA posts P14.11-B gross revenue in 2018

MIAA attributes this growth to the increase in flights and passenger volume in 2018, particularly for the international flights. (File Photo: Ninoy Aquino International Airport MIAA/Facebook)

MANILA — The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) on Sunday said its gross revenues reached PHP14.11 billion in 2018, up 9 percent from 2017.

Of the total gross revenue, MIAA said PHP1.7 billion went to the national government.

MIAA attributes this growth to the increase in flights and passenger volume in 2018, particularly for the international flights.

Data sent to the Philippine News Agency (PNA) showed in 2018, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) had a total of 22,973,510 arriving and departing international passengers.

Domestic passengers, on the other hand, were 22,142,186.

Total international flights were 113,817, while domestic operations were 145,881.

In an interview with MIAA General Ed Monreal last December, he said the airport’s two new rapid exit taxiways that were opened last year have greatly helped in the operations.

“(Rapid exit taxiways) help the aircraft to exit faster and transit to the four terminals of NAIA,” he said.

Monreal also noted that these taxiways save time or aircraft movements per hour, as the aircraft would not need to wait or traverse the whole length of the runway, and just take the taxiway to exit.

NAIA now has four rapid exit taxiways — two could accommodate a small aircraft, and two could accommodate larger wide-bodied aircraft.

Wide-body aircraft could accommodate more passengers, and MIAA considers this as a contributor to the huge volume of international passengers in 2018.

MIAA also cited the rise in the arrival of Chinese tourists since the government introduced the “visa upon arrival” option in NAIA as another contributing factor in the increase of international passengers.