House panel OKs 2nd Cebu airport runway project

The House Committee on Transportation has passed a bill seeking the construction of a second runway at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

The panel, chaired by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, approved House Bill 149, which also seeks to equip the proposed second runway with concomitant access taxiways and rapid exit taxiways (RET), runway lightning systems and navigational and landing equipment.

Cebu Rep. Raul Del Mar, who authored the bill, said that considering the volume commercial and military flights to and from Cebu, MCIA’s runway capacity may only be good until 2024.

“A realistic capacity of a single runway is approximately 202,000 aircraft movements annually, on the assumption of a 16-hour operations and also considering that aircraft movements are spread across the operational hours,” he said, citing the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Airport Development Reference Manual.

“However, aircraft movements are generally not spread out over the entire day, considering the differing demand across the different routes and the fact that routes are approved by another agency, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). In reality, the existing MCIA runway is expected to breach its capacity much earlier than 2024,” Del Mar said.

Under House Bill 149, Del Mar tasks the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to supervise the establishment of the second aerodrome runway of the MCIA, located in the city of Lapu-Lapu in Cebu.

The DOTr, in coordination with the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) , is also mandated to finance and conduct the feasibility studies and the formulation of the detailed engineering designs, standards, and specifications of the proposed runway as well as the concomitant access taxiways and RETs, runway lightning systems and navigational and landing equipment.

The funding shall be included in the Annual General Appropriations Act