MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Data from AirAsia Philippines shows that the uptick in COVID-19 cases in January has not affected domestic travel as the airline recouped 42% of its pre-COVID flight frequency this month.
AirAsia Philippines showed a huge climb in capacity for the month of January 2022 versus 2021 after recording an increase of 182%. Seats sold for said month also increased by 200% as compared to the same month in the previous year. Moreover, load factor has increased by 10%. Caticlan, Cebu, and Tacloban still dominated the top destinations for both leisure and essential travel.
The airline has started to gradually increase its domestic flights slated for February for Davao, Iloilo, Cagayan De Oro, Bacolod, Puerto Princesa, Panglao and Kalibo in preparation for a possible influx of travelers.
AirAsia Philippines Spokesperson Steve Dailisan said, “We will continue to service our guests this 2022 with safe and timely flights. We, in the travel industry, also have our sights set on cautiously restoring our pre-pandemic flight frequency this year as we are positive the pandemic will take a turn for the better before end-2022. This is on top ensuring that in spite of challenges posed by emerging variants and new protocols, our operations are at an optimum – allowing us to avoid flight disruptions.”
In addition, hybrid and sweeper flights were mounted in partnership with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to service returning overseas Filipino workers who needed to return to the provinces.
Since the first half of January, AirAsia Philippines was able to bring home 2,500 returning Filipinos to their families for the much-anticipated reunions.
To date, AirAsia Philippines is running on an on-time performance (OTP) of 80%. This means most, if not all AirAsia Philippines flights are able to meet the scheduled departure and arrival in all of its destinations except for situations and incidents beyond the control of the airline.
AirAsia Philippines has managed to have an all-go flight through internal efforts such as the COVID-19 booster shot campaign through partnerships with various local government units. As of 27 January, 50% of the Allstars have already received their booster shots.
The airline has also implemented the strict submission of a daily digital health declaration form for all its employees. Flight crew, ground staff, and other critical staff who need to report to the office meanwhile are subjected to Antigen tests on a regular basis.
“We will continue to embrace changes and thrive towards post-pandemic recovery in the first quarter of 2022. Our system in place is proven to work to our advantage and we will keep it that way to ensure that we will be able to service our guests in the coming months, bringing them home safe and sound,” Dailisan added.
