The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) recorded its highest monthly passenger traffic in January 2026, according to private operator New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC).
In a statement, NNIC said 4.96 million passengers passed through the country’s main gateway last month, surpassing the previous record of 4.86 million passengers logged in December 2025. The figure makes January “the busiest month in the airport’s history.”
NNIC attributed the surge to sustained holiday travel, noting that from December 20, 2025 to January 4, 2026, nearly 2.6 million passengers were served across all terminals.
Passenger traffic peaked on January 4, when 180,089 travelers passed through NAIA, the highest single-day volume recorded so far.
International travel continued to drive overall growth, with 2.42 million international passengers recorded in January 2026, up 8.16% year-on-year and the highest monthly international volume in NAIA’s history.
Domestic passenger traffic reached 2.54 million, up 3.16% from the same period last year.
Despite the increase in passenger volumes, NNIC said airport operations remained stable, citing operational improvements implemented over the past year.
“These included terminal 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 operator said.
NNIC also reported that as of January 2026, it has remitted P62.7 billion to the national government since taking over NAIA operations in September 2024, in line with the terms of its public-private partnership concession.
