ADDED flights to China out of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport were credited for the 10 percent jump in Megawide Construction Corp.’s profit growth for the first half of 2018.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the engineering and infrastructure conglomerate reported that it earned P1.26 billion, from P1.15 billion in the same period last year.
The company said that its airport business segment contributed 65 percent to consolidated net earnings. Its construction business accounted for the remaining 35 percent.
Megawide formed a consortium with India’s GMR Group, the GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., to manage and operate the MCIA for 25 years under the government’s private-public partnership program.
“We remain optimistic about the company’s continued strong performance in 2018,” said Megawide chairman and CEO Edgar Saavedra. “Our growth prospects continue to be promising with the addition of more routes at Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) and the numerous opportunities in the construction segment. We are also continuing to boost our order book levels to ensure a more stable revenue pipeline in the next three years, at least.”
Megawide’s consolidated revenues reached P8.96 billion.
The airport’s operations posted a 14-percent growth in revenues to P1.32 billion, which the company attributes to the 12-percent increase in passenger volume.
International passengers outperformed domestic passenger growth of 10 percent by posting a 17-percent growth.
The increase in foreign tourists also led to the airport’s merchandising segment’s growth. At the end of the second quarter, the segment had P273.2 million in revenue from Terminal 2 alone. As they expand Terminal 1’s operations, the company expects even higher contribution from the segment in the coming quarters.
For the first half of 2018, the MCIA saw 5.8 million passengers compared to the 5.1 million in the same period last year. Domestic passengers accounted for 67 percent while international passengers accounted for 33 percent.
The growth in the number of passengers led to a growth of 13 percent in passenger service charge. Non-aero or commercial revenues rose by 18 percent while aero-related revenues increased by 11 percent.
Out of the 15 new flights opened in the first half of the year, 12 were direct flights to China.
The MCIA opened new routes to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Changsa and Nanjing and added flights to Shanghai.
“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,” said Saavedra. “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.”
Saavedra said traveling via Cebu to other destinations in the Visayas and Mindanao is of a shorter duration than Manila, which is why some travelers prefer Cebu as their entry point.
“The location of Cebu provides added convenience for travelers going to these areas.”
The MCIA serves 34 domestic and 24 international destinations and has 26 airline partners. (MEA)