Mactan int’l airport eyes links to Australia, Europe

The country’s second-busiest air gateway, the Mactan Cebu International Airport, wants a bigger slice of the international market, eyeing links to Australia and Europe in the next two years.

The airport, where a brand new terminal will open by 2018, also wants increased connections to neighbors in the region, such as China, Japan and South Korea. It said incentives were being offered to carriers based in those jurisdictions.

Cebu’s main gateway, now being operated and expanded by GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., the private consortium that bagged the airport public private partnership project in 2014, said luring more carriers would help it meet passenger targets in the coming years.

The start of operations of the new terminal, set in June 2018, will increase capacity to 12.8 million passengers per year.

The Mactan-Cebu airport served 8.9 million passengers last year, 75 percent of whom were locals. The figure was 11.5 percent above 2015. It expects a 12-percent growth in 2017, with a target of about 10 million passengers by year-end.

“With a total of 16 international destinations, 27 domestic destinations and with 19 partner airline carriers, it shows that Cebu is no longer just a secondary airport. It is a viable choice connecting to the rest of the Philippines and to the world,” Louie Ferrer, GMR Megawide Cebu Airport president, said in a statement.

According to the company, construction activities at the new Cebu passenger terminal are ongoing.

The new terminal, spanning 6.5 hectares, will lessen congestion as well as expand retail offerings.

“We create the first and last impressions visitors make of Cebu and the rest of the country and thus we want to create a worthy impression for everyone. Not only will the new terminal look distinctly Filipino, it will also be a complete experience of Filipino hospitality the moment you set foot here,” Ferrer said.