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Cargo at Ninoy Aquino International Airport dropped 3.2% to 369,924.36 metric tons while Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) handled 20.7% more at 49.494 million kilograms in the first eight months of 2025
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Passenger traffic at both hubs increased year-on-year in the first eight months of the year, with NAIA 4.6% higher at 35.215 million and MCIA expanding 3.8% to 7.804 million
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Both hubs recorded modest increase in flights in the first eight months of the year due to lower domestic flights
Cargo volumes at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) dropped while Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) saw a double-digit increase during the first eight months of 2025, according to data from the airports’ respective regulators.
NAIA recorded 369,924.36 metric tons (mt) of cargo from January to August this year, down 3.2% from the 382,321.53 mt posted in the same period last year on account of lower international cargo, according to data from the Manila International Airport Authority.
International cargo, which accounted for 59.2% of the total, dropped 15.3% to 218,919.18 mt from 258,514.13 mt last year.
Domestic cargo, on the other hand, grew 22% to 151,005.18 mt from 123,807.40 mt.
READ: Cargo handled at NAIA down 1.2% in Jan-July 2025
MCIA, on the other hand, saw an increase in both international and domestic cargo, handling 49.494 million kilograms (kg) of cargo in the first eight months of the year, up 20.7% from the 41.001 million kg in the same period last year, according to data from Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority.
Accounting for 61% of the total during the period, domestic cargo improved 15.3% to 30.175 million kg from 26.168 million kg in the first eight months of last year.
International cargo likewise surged 30.2% to 19.318 million kg from 14.833 million kg last year.
Passenger traffic at both hubs increased year-on-year during the period in review.
NAIA recorded 35.215 million passengers during the period, 4.6% higher than the 33.679 million passengers in the same period last year. International passengers at the country’s main hub rose 5.2% to 16.422 million while domestic passenger traffic grew 4% to 18.793 million.
At MCIA, passenger count expanded 3.8% to 7.804 million from 7.521 million. International passengers hiked 1.9% to 1.976 million while domestic passengers increased 4.4% to 5.828 million.
READ: MCIA cargo up 23.6% in Jan-July 2025
Both hubs also recorded modest increase in flights in the first eight months of the year.
Flights at NAIA climbed 0.07% to 196,441 from January to August 2025 from 196,311 in the same period last year.
The slight improvement resulted from the 0.7% drop in domestic flights — which accounted for a higher share to the total — to 118,708, while international flights slightly rose 1.2% to 77,733 flights.
For MCIA, flights during the first eight months of the year hiked 0.4% to 65,464 from 65,182.
Similar to NAIA, domestic flights at MCIA declined 0.8% 52,712 while international flights grew 5.8% to 12,752.
MCIA as of October is connected to 28 domestic destinations and 13 international destinations with five Philippine-based and 16 foreign airline partners, according to operator Aboitiz InfraCapital Cebu Airport Corporation.
NAIA private concessionaire New NAIA Infra Corp., meanwhile, earlier said more carriers have been including or expanding their flights at NAIA.
