By Roderick T. dela Cruz

International air passenger movement slowed 5.6 percent year-on-year in January, marking the fifth straight month of contraction since the global financial crisis affected tourist spending across countries.

The Geneva-based International Air Transport Association also announced that air cargo fell 23.2 percent in January, extending the drop in freight traffic to eights months.

“Alarm bells are ringing everywhere. Every region’s carriers are reporting big drops in cargo. And, aside from the Middle East carriers, passenger demand is falling in all regions. The industry is in a global crisis and we have not yet seen the bottom,” said Giovanni Bisignani, director-general of the association.

“The 5.6 percent drop in passenger demand outpaced capacity cuts of 2.0 percent, driving the load factor to 72.8 percent, or 2.8 percent below what was recorded for January 2008,” the group said.

Despite the bleak numbers, budget carrier Cebu Pacific said it would increase its passenger volume to about 9 million from 6.747 million in 2008.

Cebu Pacific and rival Philippine Airlines are expanding their fleet to service new routes.

Data from the International Air Transport Association, however, showed that Asian carriers led the decline in passenger demand with an 8.4 percent year-on-year drop in January.

While this was slightly better than the 9.7 percent contraction in December, it was positively skewed by Chinese New Year, which fell at the end of January from February the year before.

In the Philippines, arrivals from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were up by more than 60 percent in January from a year ago, according to the Tourism Department.