Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific Prepare for Anticipated Holiday Traffic at Airports Nationwide

MANILA: As the holiday season approaches, local carriers are making preparations to handle the expected increase in air travel. In particular, Philippine Airlines (PAL) is assuring the public of its readiness to manage the surge in passengers across various airports in the country.

According to a new release by the Philippines News Agency, PAL will deploy “the required manpower to ensure full manning of our customer touchpoints.” Villaluna added that PAL currently operates 535 weekly domestic roundtrips via the Manila hub, 210 domestic roundtrips per week from Cebu and other provincial cities, and 358 international roundtrips per week. These frequencies will continue during the holiday period. She advised passengers to check-in online at least 24 hours before their flights and to arrive at the airport in accordance with the recommended timeframes—two and a half hours before domestic flights and three and a half hours before international flights. Travelers are also encouraged to familiarize themselves with the baggage allowance and specific travel requirements for their destinations.

In a parallel development, Cebu Pacific (CEB), another major local carrier, has introduced self-service kiosks at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 for travelers headed to non-visa destinations. These kiosks are also available at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport. The kiosks allow passengers to scan their itinerary receipt’s barcode or enter the booking reference number to facilitate quicker check-in. In case of flight disruptions at NAIA Terminal 3, affected Cebu Pacific passengers can show their boarding passes at specific partner stores inside the terminal to avail themselves of meals.

According to Bryan Co, officer-in-charge of the Manila International Airport Authority, NAIA expects approximately 1.2 million passengers to pass through its terminals from October 27 to November 5. Co said that efforts are in place to minimize overcrowding and to ensure timely dispatch of flights during this busy travel period.