Chinese boost passenger traffic in Mactan airport

The Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) saw passenger traffic jump in the first half of 2018, led by an increase in foreign and domestic flights, its private operator said Monday.

GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC) said in a statement passenger traffic hit 5.76 million from January to June, up 12.5 percent. This matched the increase in flight operations, which grew almost 13 percent percent to 49,843 flights.

“We closed the midyear with a remarkable performance and we are positive to hit the projected 11.2 million passenger traffic this year especially now that we have opened Terminal 2,” said GMCAC president Louie Ferrer.

MCIA recorded a total of 37,720 domestic flights, up over 12 percent from 33,603 in 2017. International flights increased almost 15 percent to 12,123 flights from 10,562 of last year’s first half. Peak air traffic movement was recorded in the month of May with 6,642 domestic flights and 2,101 international flights.

GMCAC, backed by Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure, assumed operations after winning the MCIA public-private partnership (PPP) project in 2014.

The tandem bested other conglomerates and their global airport partners to win the 25-year PPP deal that featured the construction of Terminal 2. The new facility increased MCIA’s capacity from 4.5 million passengers per year to around 12.5 million passengers annually.

The new terminal opened on July 1, 2018.

Ferrer said China flights provided a big boost to air traffic.

He said this signaled there was growing demand from the Chinese market for alternative travel destinations and “Cebu has become that top choice for them.”

Meanwhile, GMCAC is in talks with the Philippine government to further expand MCIA.

The consortium submitted last year a P208-billion unsolicited offer to build a second runway and a third passenger terminal in Cebu. It expects passenger traffic in MCIA to hit 28 million people annually by 2039, when its concession ends.

Considered as the central gateway to the Visayas and Southern Philippines, MCIA is the second largest airport hub in the country. It has a total of 23 international destinations, 33 domestic destinations and 26 partner airlines.