INTERNATIONAL passenger traffic is expected to increase at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) as travel restrictions further ease, Megawide Construction Corp. said on Friday, July 1, 2022.
“In the airport segment, the company is expecting a boost in international numbers at MCIA, particularly with the opening of the thrice-weekly Cebu-Istanbul route via Turkish Airlines and the return of the daily Cebu-Dubai route via Emirates,” Megawide, the Filipino private operator of the airport together with India’s GMR Group, said in a statement.
The firm said the continuing recovery at MCIA “is punctuated by the recent dismissal of the Anti-Dummy Law case” filed against directors of Megawide’s airport subsidiary, GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC).
The company officially received the omnibus order last June 27, explaining that the dismissal of the case was necessitated by the enactment of Republic Act 11659 or the Public Service Act, which was signed into law last March 21, 2022, which clearly excluded airport operations and maintenance from the definition of a public utility.
This therefore removed the applicability of the nationality restriction to GMCAC.
In the first four months of 2022, the country’s second busiest airport recorded a 134 percent increase in passenger traffic, owing to the recovery in air travel.
Official data showed MCIA accommodated a total of 656,130 domestic and international passengers from January to April this year.
This was a huge increase from 280,759 total passengers it recorded in the same period last year.
During the four-month period, MCIA posted a 139 percent increase in domestic passenger traffic to 595,037 and 89 percent rise in international passenger traffic to 61,093.
Meanwhile, Megawide also reported it is also proceeding with Phase 1 of its revitalization of Cebu’s 100-year-old Carbon District under a 50-year joint venture with the Cebu City Government, as the prototype for its urban renewal concept.
“Despite our losses, we stayed true to our values and our pursuit of inclusive development through infrastructure. The journey has not been easy, and we thank you for keeping us going through 2021 towards our vision of A First-World Philippines,” Megawide chief executive Edgar Saavedra said.