UK’s SSP Group to operate Mactan airport’s F&B hub

The consortium of Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure Ltd. took over the concession to operate and expand Mactan Cebu International Airport, the country’s second-busiest air facility, in 2014. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

Construction and engineering group Megawide Construction Corp. has tapped UK-listed SSP Group plc to build a world-class food and beverage (F&B) hub at the upcoming terminal of Mactan Cebu International Airport, where business has grown nearly thrice as fast as expected.

GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC) president Manuel Louie Ferrer told reporters on Tuesday that SSP – which also operates F&B facilities at key airports like in New York and London – had won the bid to operate the F&B segment covering initially 1,000 square meters of commercial space available at the Mactan airport.

The British group is expected to start construction on the facilities by January. SSP will have the right to operate the F&B hub for at least seven years.

Part of the airport facility will be available by June 2018, the time by which Megawide expects to complete the new airport terminal in Mactan.

“SSP operates in some of the world’s busiest airports. We are proud to partner with them in bringing world-class standards that Filipinos deserve,” Ferrer said.

“We’re also looking forward to showcasing the best of our local delicacies to international travelers, such as Cebu’s famous lechon and dried mangoes,” he added.

To date, Ferrer said Megawide was still in talks with SSP to finalize the brands to be featured in Mactan airport.

“It will have a good mix of local and international brands that can satisfy the diverse needs of our growing number of passengers,” he said.

SSP, which entered the Philippine market with a local partner, has over 400 brands in its portfolio, curating its F&B line-up based on the needs of passengers as they travel around the world. With over 50 years’ experience in the travel market, it has presence in over 30 countries, focusing on major airport and railway terminals.

Due to Megawide’s aggressive airline marketing, Ferrer said business at the Mactan airport had been growing by 14 percent compared to the group’s assumption of only 5 percent when it first teamed up with GMR of India to bid for this much-coveted airport concession.

Last June, Megawide submitted a P208-billion 50-year unsolicited masterplan proposal to expand the Mactan airport, upgrading its capacity to 50 million passengers annually or five times the projected capacity for the whole of 2017.

As of the third quarter of 2017, the Mactan Cebu airport has received over 7.4 million passengers. It aims to reach 10 million passengers by the end of this year.