Philippines aviation registers fastest growth in SE Asia

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May 6, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine aviation industry is charting an optimistic path in the midst of oil price shocks, as it turned in the fastest growth in Southeast Asia for April, according to an aviation analyst.

Based on OAG’s aviation market data, the Philippines emerged as the third largest country in the region in terms of flight capacity with 5.82 million seats in April.

The Philippines is trailing Indonesia’s 10.31 million and Thailand’s 7.9 million, but it registered the highest growth by volume in a month when jet fuel prices reached new highs.

“Volume-wise capacity increased the most in the Philippines – where 687,000 seats were added. That is an increase of 13.4 percent compared to last year,” OAG said.

Further, the Philippines posted the biggest expansion in domestic volume, by 16 percent, to 4.15 million seats, avoiding the regional trend of capacity decline.

Indonesia remains the largest domestic market in Southeast Asia, with 8.3 million seats.

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) posted the biggest jump in passenger departures, to 2.91 million in April, to stay on as the fifth busiest airport in the region.

Still, Singapore Changi Airport remains the benchmark with 3.49 million, followed by gateways in Kuala Lumpur (3.19 million), Bangkok (3.18 million) and Jakarta (3.07 million).

Low-cost airline AirAsia led the region in terms of seat capacity with 2.8 million, beating Cebu Pacific’s 2.64 million, Thai AirAsia’s 2.18 million and Vietnam Airlines’ 2.13 million.

OAG said AirAsia managed to retain its regional leadership despite a slight decline in seat capacity. AirAsia is expected to fly into turbulent skies as it completes its corporate restructuring, paired with weaker demand in some markets and aggravated by aircraft shortage.

As AirAsia faced challenges, other carriers like Cebu Pacific ramped up their capacity in April. Cebu Pacific scaled up its total seats by 20 percent, the second-fastest among the region’s biggest airlines.

In an interview last week, Cebu Pacific CEO Michael Szucs said the airline may have to review its initial target of flying nearly 30 million passengers this year, as Filipinos reduce non-essential spending to survive rising prices.

Apart from this, airlines are dealing with elevated jet fuel prices, which have risen by one percent on a weekly basis, hitting $181.22 per barrel as of May 1.