Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) recorded the highest monthly passenger traffic and highest international volume in its history in January according to information from the airport’s operator, New NAIA Infra Corp (NNIC).
January passenger volume of 4.96 million passengers passing through exceeded the previous record of 4.86 million set just a month earlier in December and followed a strong holiday travel period from 20 December to 4 January, when NAIA served nearly 2.6 million passengers across all terminals.
NNIC said travel peaked on 4 January with 180,089 passengers passing through the airport – the highest single-day passenger volume recorded so far.
It added that international travel drove growth, with the 2.42 million international passengers recorded in January representing an 8.16% improvement from a year earlier and the highest monthly international volume in NAIA’s history. Domestic passenger traffic was also up 3.2% to 2.54 million.
The operator added that, while volumes were high, operations remained stable thanks to various “operational improvements” introduced over the past year such as upgrades, the rollout of biometric immigration e-gates and biometric passenger processing systems, as well as closer coordination among airlines, government agencies and airport service providers to manage queues, flights and passenger flow.
The improved passenger volumes come on the back of a challenging year for the Philippines tourism industry in 2025, which fell short of its targeted visitation levels on the back of a decline in arrivals from South Korea and China.
The government has responded by introducing 14-day visa-free entry for Chinese nationals.
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