Philippines-North Asia aviation market: LCCs drive rapid growth

North Asia dominates the Philippines international market. Although the Philippines is part of Southeast Asia, there is nearly three times as much capacity to North Asia than the rest of Southeast Asia.

The popularity of the Philippines as a holiday destination among North Asian residents is the main driver of the Philippines-North Asia market, although there are also significant labour and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) segments. North Asian visitor numbers to the Philippines have been growing rapidly, leading to rapid growth in passenger traffic.

Low cost airlines have particularly been benefitting from the rapid growth in demand for travel between the Philippines and North Asia. LCCs are well placed, particularly outside congested Manila, as all of North Asia is within narrowbody range of the Philippines and most Philippines-North Asia traffic is price sensitive.

Against this backdrop, the Philippine Tourism and Mactan-Cebu International Airport are ideal hosts for the CAPA LCCs in North Asia Summit on 24/25-Jun-2019.