MCIA revenues up 26% to P2.18 billion

CEBU, Philippines — The growing passenger traffic at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport continues to drive airport revenues.

In a regulatory disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Megawide Construction Corp., the Filipino firm in the consortium operator GMR-Megawide, said MCIA's operations posted a 26% growth in revenues to P2.18 billion, attributed largely to the 15% increase in passenger volume.

International passengers continue to drive growth, outpacing the growth of domestic passengers, 24% to 11%, following the official opening of Terminal 2 last July 1.

“Megawide’s prospects remain promising with the continued strong growth of the airport business with the opening of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) Terminal 2," company CEO Edgar Saavedra said.

In the first nine months of this year, the country's second busiest airport, accommodated 8.6 million passengers compared with 7.5 million in the same period last year, as a result of aggressive airline marketing efforts to increase domestic and international flights in and out of Cebu.

Currently, MCIA is connected to 35 domestic destinations and 24 international destinations, with 9 domestic airline partners and 24 international airline partners.

Domestic passengers continued to account for the bulk of the total at 66% while International passengers accounted for 34%.

 Following the opening of Terminal 2, MCIA is seeing an increase in the frequency of flights from both domestic and international carriers.

Last October, Sichuan Airlines increased flights to Chonging from 4x weekly to daily, while Philippine Airlines increased flights to Nagoya from 3x to 4x weekly.

Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific will increase flights to Hong Kong from daily to 10x weekly starting November 26; and flights to Tokyo Narita from 4x weekly to daily starting December 1.

Next month, Cebu Pacific will also start operating 4x weekly Cebu to Macau flights.

As a result of higher passenger volume, passenger service charge revenues likewise rose by 25%. Non-aero or commercial revenues, on the other hand, increased by 30% while aero-related revenues jumped 24%.