UK firm to run Mactan Airport F&B hub
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.
GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC) president Manuel Louie Ferrer told reporters yesterday that SSP—which operates F&B facilities at other key airports such as in New York and London —had won the bid to operate the F&B segment covering initially 1,000 square meters of commercial space at Mactan airport.
Mactan airport has 9,600 sqm of commercial space—3,600 sqm at terminal 1 and 6,000 sqm at terminal 2.
Ferrer said the contract allowing the group the right to operate the F&B hub for at least seen year had been awarded recently to SSP. The group will start construction by January.
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,” he 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.”
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, setting its F&B line-up based on the needs of passengers as they travel around the world.
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.—DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA
