MCIA revenues up 14% at P1.32 billion in H1
Mactan-Cebu International Airport's operations saw revenues rose 14 percent in first half, buoyed by robust passenger volume especially from international traffic.
In a regulatory disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, Megawide Construction, the Filipino firm in consortium GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp operating the MCIA, said airport revenues hit P1.32 billion, attributed to the 12 percent rise in passenger volume in the first six months of 2018 which reached 5.8 million.
International passengers grew 17 percent which outperformed domestic passenger growth of 10 percent.
“Traffic growth in Cebu will be driven to a greater extent by our visitors from China. This is an opportunity that we want to maximize,” Megawide CEO Edgar Saavedra said. “These new flights are the result of sustained airline marketing initiatives, and we will continue to work on opening more routes to provide Chinese tourists with even greater accessibility to Cebu and nearby destinations.”
At least 12 out of the 15 new flights opened in the first semester were direct flights to China. These include new routes to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Changsa and Nanjing and additional flights to Shanghai.
Domestic passengers accounted for 67 percent of MCIA's traffic while International passengers accounted for 33 percent.
Megawide said the increase in passenger count led grew passenger service charge by 13 percent.
Non-aero or commercial revenues rose 18 percent and aero-related revenues increased by 11 percent.
The airport's net income jumped 34 percent while net income margin likewise rose to 56 percent from 48 percent.
The construction and engineering firm said contributions from the new airport merchandising segment are also expected to grow with the increase in foreign tourists.
At the end of the second quarter, airport merchandising revenue hit P273.2 million while operating exclusively inside Terminal 2.
"However, with the expansion of its operations to Terminal 1 in the near future, the segment's contribution is expected to become more significant moving forward," the listed company said.
Overall, MCIA operations contributed 65 percent to Megawide's consolidated net earnings of P1.26 billion in first half.
Saavedra said growth prospects continue to be promising with the addition of more routes from MCIA.
He noted that traveling via Cebu to other tourist destinations in Visayas and Mindanao only takes about 30 minutes compared to the almost one hour travel time from Manila.
“The location of Cebu provides added convenience for travelers going to these areas. Cebu is the ideal starting point," he said.
To date, MCIA serves 34 domestic and 24 international destinations with 26 airline partners.