NAIA posts growth in global cargo, decline in domestic freight

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Cargo planeInternational cargo boosted freight throughput at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in the first eight months of the year, with cargo traffic busiest in August, data from the Manila International Airport Authority showed.

Cargo volume from January to August grew 5.47% to 306.208 million kilos, up from 290.324 million kilos in the same period last year.

Of the total, international cargo accounted for 73.3%, or 224.503 million kilos, an increment of 16.4% from 192.845 million kilos for the same period last year.

Domestic cargo contributed the rest with 81.706 million kilos, a 16.2% decline from the 97.479 million kilos NAIA handled in the same period last year.

The country’s main air gateway recorded its highest cargo traffic during August, with 44.103 million kilos recorded, which is 24.8% higher than the 35.314 million kilos booked in the same month last year.

For the full-year 2013, NAIA processed a total of 444.978 million kilos of air cargo.

 

Privatizing, developing NAIA

Recently, the government said it is working to privatize the operations and maintenance of NAIA to improve its services.

A recent Japan International Cooperation Agency study also suggested the further development of NAIA as it has reached capacity, but proposed the eventual phase-out of the existing gateway and creation of a new one in a nearby location.

Meanwhile, to improve security operations, the United States Trade and Development Agency agreed to provide the Department of Transportation and Communications with technical assistance to conduct security vulnerability assessments on the gateway.