NAIA remains among 30 busiest airports in AsPac

Despite a global downtrend in the airline travel industry, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) remains among the 30 busiest air terminals in the Asia-Pacific region.

The world-wide organization Airports Council International (ACI) reported in its latest survey that the NAIA figured prominently in three categories among he 98 air terminals in the region.

ACI said the NAIA ranks 14th in cargo volume with a total of 116,786 metric tons of loaded and unloaded freight, as well as mailed goods.

Hong Kong topped the category, followed by Tokyo in Japan.

For aircraft movements, the NAIA has emerged in seventh place with a total of 57,558 landings and takeoffs of international flights to date. Tokyo was the busiest in aircraft movements, followed by Sydney in Australia.

On passenger traffic, the NAIA is in 16th place with 4,366,329 visitors from all over the world. Tokyo was again on top with 19,034,614 passengers followed by Bangkok in Thailand with 11,116,046 visitors.

NAIA general manager Edgardo Manda attributed the impressive rankings to the continued all-out support of President Arroyo to the airport’s programs and personnel.

"I must also salute the officers and personnel of the NAIA for their continued team spirit and common goal of making the airport a terminal which we can all be proud of to the rest of the world," Manda added.

Prior to these, the NAIA was earlier ranked as the 81st busiest airport in the whole world also by the ACI.