Filipinos prefer to travel by air this Holy Week

FILIPINOS prefer to travel to and from one of the destinations in the country’s 7,107 islands and flying has become a hands down favorite.

Holy Week is one of the peak seasons in local travel as Filipinos, mostly Christians, go home to their provinces.

At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, nearly 30,000 passengers will be leaving and arriving for the duration of the Easter break.

This compares significantly with the number of passengers traveling by boat to visit their loved ones in various regions across the country.

For example, shipping vessel M/V Love, which is plying the Manila-Aklan route, has experienced a 50 percent drop in passenger count compared to last year.

Mushrooming budget airlines and the proliferation of fare sales – which means tickets have to be bought weeks or months in advance – are the key reasons.

By keeping air fares affordable, budget airlines have directly targeted travelers who were used to taking the bus (for land-based trips) and ferries (for destinations that involve another island).

Aside from competitively priced air fares, airlines also dangle a more convenient and faster way to travel. Air travels within the country take over two hours at the most, while bus and ferry rides mean hours or days worth of travel.

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