CAPA: MCIA needs continued expansion

CEBU, Philippines — The Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the country’s second busiest airport hub, must continue investing on expansion to keep up with future air traffic growth.

In its latest analysis, aviation think tank CAPA Centre for Aviation pointed out GMR-Megawide, the private consortium operating the airport, "will need to continue investing in expansion to remain ahead of the growth curve."

"The original (now exclusively domestic) terminal is still operating above its design capacity, despite all international flights moving to Terminal 2," according to CAPA.

Terminal 2 has ample capacity to support further international growth for the next several years, the aviation think tank said.

But even if Cebu’s international passenger traffic doubles again, the new terminal will still be operating slightly below capacity, it said.

The airport will need to expand its domestic terminal capacity and soon will also have to start planning a further international expansion if international traffic continues to grow rapidly.

Cebu has positioned itself as the second major gateway to the Philippines, adding two million annual international passengers over the past four years.

"Manila is still much larger and has seven times the international passenger traffic. However, Mactan-Cebu will gradually close the gap with Manila because it has invested in the capacity to support growth, whereas Manila remains constrained," CAPA said.

Previously, Andrew Acquaah-Harrison, GMR-Megawide chief executive advisor, had said the company remained bullish on its future plan for MCIA which will soon have a third terminal and a second runway if the government approves its proposal.

He had said the firm was ready to construct an additional parallel taxiway to serve as emergency runway at the airport if the company gets a green light from the government.

In June last year, GMR-Megawide submitted a P208-billion unsolicited proposal to the government to further develop MCIA.

The proposal intends to take over the airside facilities of the airport currently owned by the government-led MCIA Authority as well as to expand the airport to have a capacity of 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.

The rehabilitation of airside facilities and the building of a new runway are expected to lessen congestion that may be experienced with just one runway facility currently.