MCIA opens 2 new routes to China Beijing unveils new mega-airport due to open in 2019
A triumvirate of Chinese airlines starts flying from Shanghai and Xi’an direct to Cebu this month as MactanCebu International Airport (MCIA) opens two new routes to China, developer GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC) announced.
China Eastern and Juneyao Airlines will both start flying from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to MCIA.
China Eastern will have seven flights weekly in its first run from October 18 to October 28, 2017. It will resume operations on January 18, 2018. Juneyao Airlines starts thrice weekly flights on October 30, 2017.
Meanwhile, Okay Airways will launch thrice weekly flights to China’s historic city of Xi’an on October 30, 2017.
Juneyao Airlines and Okay Airways are MCIA’s newest Chinese airline partners. New routes to Beijing and Bangkok are expected to be opened in the next two months.
By end-October, MCIA will serve a total of 18 international destinations and 35 domestic destinations.
“Promoting the province and its surrounding areas to other Asian countries, especially China, is among our highest priorities,” noted Louie Ferrer, GMCAC President.
So far, “Studies have shown that China is the highest spending tourist market in the world – we want to bring this highspending Chinese market to Cebu.”
Cebu also appeals to tourists as a tropical destination. “Cebu has natural wonders but it still has all the modern luxuries. Its people are very warm towards visitors and can communicate well in English.”
The main strategy in strengthening Cebu’s connectivity is destination marketing.
“We have seen outstanding results from our destination marketing initiatives these past three years but this is only the beginning,” Ferrer explained.
“We are promoting Cebu to other untapped markets and this includes other provinces in China. Australia and other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand are also high on our list.”
Furthermore, MCIA is also targeting new flights to North Asia, the Middle East, North America, and Europe. Later this year, the company will likewise add more domestic flights.
“We are very excited by these developments. As Cebu’s tourism grows, so will the airport. We are working round the clock to ensure that MCIA is capable of handling the increasing number of passengers.”
GMCAC took over operations of Mactan-Cebu International Airport on November 1, 2014. At the time, MCIA had only seven international and 23 domestic destinations.
Last month, GMCAC and MCIA hosted the Global Airports Development (GAD) Asia Conference, the first airport development conference to be held in the Philippines. Leaders in international airport finance and development attended the event.
In 2016, MCIA was named Best Regional Airport in Asia Pacific from the CAPA Center for Aviation. Earlier this year, it received a special Commendation for Excellence in Airline Marketing from Routes Asia.
BEIJING (Reuters) – China's capital unveiled the "shining example" of its 80 billion yuan ($12.14 billion) new airport on Monday, tipped to become one of the world's largest when it opens in October 2019 amid a massive infrastructure drive overseen by President Xi Jinping.
Representatives showed off the sprawling skeleton of "Beijing New Airport," which is made up of 1.6 million cubic meters of concrete, 52,000 tonnes of steel and spans a total 47 sq km (18 sq miles), including runways.
It is expected to serve an initial 45 million passengers a year with an eventual capacity of 100 million, putting it on par with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
"Lined up together there's roughly 5 km of gates," said project spokesman Zhu Wenxin. "It's a shining example of China's national production capacity."
Updates on the airport come as the ruling Communist Party is set to open its 19th congress later this week, a twice-a-decade leadership event where Xi will consolidate power and emphasize successful projects and policy from his first five years.
The project, which broke ground in 2014, is one of the region's largest infrastructure investments under Xi's rule, which has been plagued by fears of slowing economic growth, offset slightly by a construction spree.
China has sought to boost its profile as both an aviation hub and a manufacturer in recent years. The country's first home-grown passenger jet, the C919, lifted off on its maiden flight in May, edging into a multibillion-dollar market currently dominated by Boeing Co and Airbus SE.
Situated 67 km south of Beijing, the airport technically falls in neighboring Hebei province, though it will eventually constitute its own development zone.
It will relieve pressure on Beijing’s existing international airport, to the northeast of Beijing and currently the world’s second largest by passenger volume, which opened a new terminal worth $3.6 billion in 2008 ahead of the Beijing Summer Olympics.
The existing airport will continue to operate major international flights, though a third smaller domestic airport in the city’s south will close in coming years.
Two of China's three major airlines, China Eastern Airlines Corp and China Southern Airlines Co., will relocate to the airport on completion, accounting for roughly four-fifths of the new airport's total traffic.
The airport will be connected to Beijing by a high speed train with a top speed of 350 km an hour, as well as an inter-city train and a major expressway.
Original plans for the airport were made by French airports operator Aeroports de Paris, though third-party improvements to the original version make the final design "wholly domestic," said Zhu.
"It's like a large flower, but made of steel," said one construction worker on the site, who declined to share his name because he was not authorized to speak to press.