Exiting Manila airport among the fastest in Asia for international arrivals — report

MANILA, Philippines — It only takes less than an hour for international travellers arriving in Manila to deplane, gather their luggage, clear customs and immigration, and walk to vehicles with chauffeurs — making the Philippine capital among the fastest airport terminals to exit in Asia, a new report released Wednesday found.

Passengers would only need an average of 37 minutes to exit the Manila airport — the seventh fastest airport in the region for international arrivals, according to Berlin-based chauffeur and airport concierge service Blacklane.

Globally, travelers would need an average time of 23 minutes to exit an airport after a domestic flight. For passengers from an international flight, it will take 38 minutes – a 65% increase – to do some check-ins and leave the airport, Blacklane said.

Blacklane said that since August last year, it compared hundreds of thousands of travelers' flight arrival times to the times they entered chauffeured vehicles. Blacklane then calculated the median number of minutes to exit terminals at hundreds of airports.

"The data does not take into account nationality, age, priority status, or checked vs. carry-on luggage," Blacklane noted.

In the Asia-Pacific region, airports in China, Australia and India get international travelers through faster, with gateways in Shanghai and Macau securing the top two spots at 22 minutes and 32.5 minutes, respectively.

On the flipside, Blacklane found that capital cities are “the majority of the slowest airports to exit in APAC for international travelers.”

“Tokyo has two of the ten, with Beijing, Colombo, Hanoi, and Kuala Lumpur on the list. All of these take at least 46 minutes to exit. Four airports take 51 minutes or longer,” Blacklane said.

Luxembourg is the fastest airport in the world to exit for international arrivals, with a median time of 15.5 minutes. The slowest is Kansai in Japan, with a median time of 80.5 minutes, Blacklane reported.

Meanwhile, business travelers arriving from a domestic flight exit airports in a median time of 17 minutes. All other travelers have a median exit time of 24 minutes – a 41% increase.

For international arrivals, business travelers leave the airport in a 30-minute median time. All other travelers take 39 minutes, 30% longer. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral