MCIA passenger traffic up 18% in first quarter

CEBU, Philippines - Passenger traffic at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the country's second busiest airport, continued to increase in the first quarter of  2017 which grew by 18 percent.

MCIA passengers hit 2.43 million in first three months of 2017, up 18 percent from 2.07 million in the same period in 2016, official data showed.

Domestic passengers reached 1.60 million, up 6 percent from 1.51 million last year; while international passengers saw a 48 percent increase to 831,867 from 561,557 in 2016.

Aircraft traffic also continued to rise.

Flights both international and domestic during the three-month period totaled 19,763, up 20 percent from 16,468 last year.

Domestic flights reached 14,820, up 14% while international flights were up 43 percent to 4,943.

In 2016, domestic and international flights increased by 8% and 22%, respectively, with the entry of  Xiamen Airlines, China Eastern, Tiger Airway, Emirates, PAL Cebu to Los Angeles and Eva Air; and additional domestic flights to Davao, Bacolod, Butuan, Iloilo, Roxas, Ormoc and Cagayan de Oro.

“GMCAC’s upward trajectory will be bolstered further with the completion of Terminal 2 in June 2018, increasing the airport’s designed capacity to 12.5 million. This will help ensure Megawide’s stable and sustainable growth moving forward,” Megawide Construction President Edgar Saavedra earlier said.

MCIA recorded a 12 percent increase in passenger traffic in 2016 to 8.9 million – 6.7 million domestic passengers and 2.2 million international – as it aims to reach 10 million passenger arrivals this year.

“By pursuing new and diverse routes and increasing travel and tourism to the Visayas-Mindanao regions, we are ensuring long-term sustainability and economic and social benefits for the passengers and the businesses," Manuel Louie Ferrer, president of  GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., had said earlier.

Megawide, together with Bangalore-based partner GMR Infrastructure Ltd., took over operations of the MCIA in November 2014.

For the next two years, the firm is planning to introduce new routes that will connect Cebu to Australia, Europe and other Southeast Asian countries, as well as expand routes to China, Japan and South Korea.

Operations of the MCIA continued to deliver strong growth in terms of revenue.

Megawide had reported that in its only second full-year of operations and management, its subsidiary GMCAC significantly contributed 47 percent to its consolidated net income or P902.5 million last year.

This is 80 percent higher than the P501 million it contributed in 2015.

The 26 percent increase in revenue was attributed to the 12 percent year-on-year increase in passenger traffic, it said.

The firm expects this business segment to gain traction with its continuous effort to market Cebu as an alternative international gateway to the Philippines, given its strategic geographical location and proximity to tourist destinations. (FREEMAN)