Cebu airport services 12% more passengers

MANILA, Philippines — Passenger traffic in the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) posted a 12.5 percent increase in the first half, putting it on track to attain the projected 11.2 million passenger traffic this year.

GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), a joint venture between Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India, said the MCIA handled 5.76 million passengers in the first semester, up 12.5 percent from the 5.12 million recorded in the same month in 2017.

Air traffic movement in the airport also grew by nearly 13 percent to 49,843 flights for the January to June period from 44,165 flights last year.

MCIA recorded 3.76 million domestic passengers for the six-month period, a 10.19 percent year-on-year jump, and international traffic grew by more than 17 percent to 1.89 million passengers.

GMCAC said peak domestic passenger traffic was recorded in May with 760,000 passengers, while peak international traffic was recorded during the months of January, February, May, and June with a monthly average of 320,000 passengers.

In the first six months, the MCIA posted a total of 37,720 domestic flights, up 12.25 year-on-year, while international flights grew by nearly 15 percent to 12,123 flights.

“We closed the mid-year with a remarkable performance and we are positive to hit the projected 11.2 million passenger traffic this year especially now that we have opened Terminal 2,” GMCAC president Louie Ferrer said.

Spanning 65,500 square meters, the newly-opened Terminal 2 is dedicated to serve international flights and can accommodate 4.5 million passengers.

The new facility hiked MCIA’s passenger capacity to a minimum of 12.5 million passengers per year.

Aside from the opening of Terminal 2, GMCAC said higher passenger traffic is also a result of the robust development at MCIA in terms of connectivity as both local and foreign carriers increased their flight frequencies and mounted more flights out of Cebu.

“With the opening of MCIA’s newest passenger terminal building or Terminal 2 on July 1, GMCAC remains committed to its goal of making Mactan Cebu Airport as the major transfer hub in Southeast Asia,” Ferrer said.

“We constantly explore new markets that have a potential to expand the connectivity of Cebu to other countries particularly North America, Europe, Australia, and other Asian countries,” he said.