CEBU, Philippines - The private operator of the Mactan Cebu International Airport, the country's second busiest airport, seeks to develop more new routes and increase flight frequencies this year, an official said.
Andrew Acquaah-Harrison, chief executive advisor of GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., said the firm wants to connect Cebu to more key global destinations so passengers from Cebu, Visayas and Mindanao could fly directly to these places without having to go to Manila.
"We have an airline marketing team to develop an interest from the airlines to operate new routes and increase frequency in existing routes," Harrison told The FREEMAN last Friday in a phone interview.
“We are working with airlines to both increase frequency [in flights] and open even more routes," the airport official said.
Harrison said he was excited about the new routes that Mactan airport is having starting in the first quarter this year.
On March 30, Dubai-based Emirates Airline is launching its daily Dubai-Cebu-Clark circular service in the Philippines.
And on March 15, flag carrier Philippine Airlines is starting its direct flights to Los Angeles from Cebu.
The Cebu-Los Angeles flights will be thrice weekly, said Harrison.
GMCAC identified Middle East, the US and Europe as key markets that should be connected to Cebu to increase inward tourism, outbound travel for Filipinos and cargo capacity to support Filipino exports.
Also starting on March are Xiamen Air's direct flight from Cebu to Xiamen, China and Eva Air's Cebu-Taipei-Cebu route.
The improved connectivity is expected to boost the trade and tourism links of Cebu.
Harrison said the new flights will be served by larger aircrafts so they can carry more passengers and that the growth it will bring "is significant".
"We are expecting strong growth in 2016," he added.
In 2015, MCIA registered a total of 62,213 incoming and outgoing flights, both domestic and international, a 10.54 percent rise from 56,281 in 2014. It also registered 7.78 million in passenger traffic, up 13.76 percent from 6.84 million in 2014.
MCIA is having a P17.5-billion upgrading project – undertaken by GMCAC – which is seen to increase its capacity to 12.5 million passengers a year. The airport's terminal 2, which is currently built, is scheduled to be completed by 2018. (FREEMAN)