PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, June 7, led the inauguration of the new passenger terminal at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
MCIA Terminal 2 (T2), which brings the airport's annual capacity to 12.5 million passengers from the current 4.5 million, will start operations on July 1. It will serve solely as an international passenger terminal.
Construction of T2 is part of the P17.52-billion Mactan airport upgrading project, the first airport public-private partnership (PPP) project in the country that was awarded during the Benigno Aquino III administration.
"It's a beautiful airport. Cebuanos are very lucky," Duterte said in a press conference after the inaugural ceremony.
T2, styled as the country's first resort airport, was designed by Hong Kong-based Integrated Design Associates (IDA), and local designers Budji Layug, Royal Pinda, and Kenneth Cobonpue. Its design pays tribute to Cebuano culture and heritage.
It features 48 check-in counters, with room for expansion to bring the total number to 72, as well as seven boarding bridges, with plans for five more.
The terminal will also have several food and beverage outlets and will be equipped with 12 escalators and 15 elevators.
The 65,500-square-meter facility was built by concessionaire GMR Megawide Airport Corporation (GMCAC), a consortium that is 60-percent owned by Filipino construction company Megawide Construction Corporation and 40 percent by Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Limited.
GMCAC, which signed in April 2014 a 25-year concession agreement to manage and upgrade the airport, is also renovating the existing passenger terminal, which will now be used solely for domestic operations. (MVI/SunStar Philippines)