THE Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the country’s second busiest air hub, is on track to hit its 13 million passenger target this year, after traffic hit 6.30 million in the first half of 2019.
“With our current growth for both international and domestic, we see that we are on track to hit our full-year target,” Andrew Harrison, chief executive advisor of GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., told SunStar Cebu.
The MCIA handled 11.37 million passengers in the full-year 2018.
Based on official data, MCIA handled 6.30 million passengers from January to June this year, up 9.38 percent from 5.76 million in the same period last year.
Air traffic movement also grew 7.24 percent year-on-year to 53,452 flights this year from 49,843 flights last year.
During the six-month period, the Mactan Airport recorded 4.25 million domestic passengers, while international traffic totaled 2.05 million passengers. Domestic and international passenger traffic increased by 9.82 percent and 8.47 percent, respectively.
Marketing
Harrison attributed MCIA’s sustained traffic growth to the continuous arrival of more passengers as a result of an innovative and sustainable marketing campaign by the airport operator.
He said they continue to focus on promoting Cebu to international markets.
In fact, he pointed out the company is working to eventually connect Cebu to underserved markets such as Australia, North America, Europe, India and other Southeast Asian countries.
“Korea, China and Japan continue to be strong markets for Cebu, delivering more growth,” the airport executive said.
MCIA is set to welcome a new route to Kaohsiung, Taiwan that will be operated thrice weekly by Philippines AirAsia starting Aug. 1, 2019.
GMCAC has expected additional traffic to come in this year, both from local and foreign airlines.
In particular, China is the fast growing source market for tourism in Cebu and the Central Visayas. While South Korea remains Cebu’s largest tourist source market, the Chinese market has been growing faster.
As of March 2019, MCIA was serving 30 domestic and 20 international destinations with 25 partner carriers.
Higher aim
GMCAC has projected MCIA’s passenger capacity to increase to 16 million per year once the renovation of domestic Terminal 1 is completed this year.
Terminal 2 officially opened last year, catering to international flights and passengers.
The Filipino-Indian consortium had previously planned to get a concession to build a third terminal projected to start by 2035, as part of its long-term development plan for the airport.
In June 2017, GMR-Megawide submitted a P208-billion unsolicited proposal to the government to further develop MCIA.
The airport’s long-term target is to increase its capacity to at least 50 million passengers per year.
Under the proposal, the expansion will be undertaken in three phases, with the first involving the rehabilitation of MCIA’s existing runway and taxiways; construction of an additional parallel taxiway to serve as emergency runway; and the development of additional rapid exit taxiways and runway holding positions, upon takeover of the airside facilities.
The second phase will involve the construction of a second parallel and independent runway, while the third and final phase is the building of a third terminal for additional passengers.