MCIA on track to hit 2018 passenger target

Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the country’s second busiest air hub, is on track to hit its 11.2-million passenger target in 2018, which saw the opening of its new terminal.

As of end November, total two-way passenger traffic at MCIA already reached 10.352 million, up 13% from 9.153 million in the same period last year, official data obtained by The FREEMAN showed.

From January to November 2018, international passengers rose 21% to 3.440 million from 2.849 million in the comparable period.

While domestic passengers also saw a 10% growth to 6.912 million last year from 6.304 million in 2017.

International passengers have significantly risen since the airport opened its Terminal 2 July last year, as new international routes from Cebu opened.

Meanwhile, air traffic volume both from domestic and international flights also saw a 17% growth from January to November last year to 91,496 from 78,252 in 2017.

International flights reached 23,303, up 22% from 19,139, while domestic flights rose 10% to 68,193 from 59,113.

In 2017, MCIA's passenger count hit 10.05 million, up 14% from 6.39 million in 2016.

Earlier, Efren Carreon, regional chief at the National Economic and Development Authority in Central Visayas, said the increasing passenger traffic in Cebu is one of the region’s promising economic drivers.

The visitor traffic has been driving up the region's tourism economy, he said.

Cebu’s economy in the particular has been predicted to continue to grow with the tourism industry at the forefront.

GMR-Megawide, the airport private operator, has tendered its offer to the government to build a second parallel runway at MCIA at a cost of P200 billion to maximize its potential as the largest international passenger airport south of Manila and increasing its capacity to 35 million passengers per year by 2025. The Filipino-Indian consortium was optimistic that the growing demand for leisure travel to Cebu will spur the growth and sustain passenger traffic to the island.

Cebu is continuously promoted as an alternative international gateway to the Philippines, given its strategic geographical location and proximity to tourist destinations in southern Philippines.

In 2014, GMR-Megawide won the 25-year public private partnership (PPP) contract to build, operate and maintain the new MCIA terminal for some P17.52 billion.

The consortium's P208-billion unsolicited proposal, which it submitted last July 2017 spans a 50-year development. —