Philippines a ‘rising star’ in aviation market

CEBU, Philippines — The Philippines is emerging as among the fastest-growing aviation markets in Asia and the Pacific, as the country sees a steadily-growing air traffic over the past years.

Jean Francois Laval, executive vice president for sales in Asia at Airbus, a Europe-based aircraft maker, said the country’s tremendous economic growth in recent years and rising population are potentially driving its aviation industry.

In his presentation during Cebu Pacific’s launch of its new Airbus A321neo plane, Laval noted the country’s air traffic registered an annual 6.1 percent growth in the last two decades.

Thus, he described the Philippines as an investment destination when it comes to aviation.

Moving forward, the Airbus official sees the Philippine’s air traffic continually growing, with domestic traffic seen growing 6.7 percent per year.

“We estimate that growth of traffic in the Philippines will be more than six percent which will outpace even the growth we forecasted in Asia,” Laval told aviation stakeholders during the said event in Manila.

He pointed out the Philippines “is a place you want to invest in aviation.”

This optimistic view was also echoed by Cebu Pacific CEO Lance Gokongwei, saying more Filipinos are travelling nowadays, thus driving demand for air travel.

Gokongwei also noted the carrier will continue to see a lot of growth in terms of traffic.

The businessman sees a better year for airlines as global fuel prices started to stabilize and the peso rebounded.

Last year was a challenging year for airline firms as rising fuel prices and volatility in currency markets weighed down profits. (FREEMAN)