THE Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) has continued to see weak international passenger arrivals, as its current overall air traffic volume reached only 10 percent of its pre-pandemic traffic.
Megawide Construction Corp., one of the consortium companies together with India’s GMR Infrastructure operating the Cebu airport, divulged this in a disclosure to the stock exchange on Friday.
Megawide said it remains optimistic of a turnaround in air travel once the global vaccination program has been effectively rolled out.
MCIA’s revenue during the first nine months of 2021 amounted to P366 million, 63 percent or P632 million lower than the same period last year and contributed three percent to the total consolidated revenue of Megawide.
The airport attributed the weak revenue “to the effect of international and local travel restrictions, beginning March 16, 2020 and persisted until September 30, 2021, as a means to control the spread of Covid-19.”
Megawide also said international passenger arrivals from Covid-19 affected countries like China, Japan and Korea are still down while domestic volumes declined as the government declared a state of public emergency and placed the capital region in strict community quarantine.
The airport merchandising segment, which is ancillary to airport operations, likewise experienced a slowdown in sales due to reduced passenger traffic translating to an 85 percent decline in revenue. (CSL)