Cebu airport Jan-Apr passenger traffic up 3.6%

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s second busiest gateway handled 3.6% more passengers in January-to-April as airlines increased capacity of their Cebu flights.

Data from the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) released Tuesday, July 9, showed that a total of 2.417 million domestic and international passengers used the international airport in the first 4 months of 2013.

This was about 84,000 more than the 2.333 million passengers in the same period a year ago.

The airport facility has a capacity of around 4.5 million passengers per year that was breached in 2010 when more than 5 million passengers used the facility.

The bidding for the P17.5 billion expansion of the congested airport facility is currently underway, with the Transportation Department overseeing it.

In 2012, the airport experienced an 8.9% increase in passenger traffic to 6.711 million from 6.215 million in 2011 on the back of the steady increase in domestic and foreign travelers.

Passengers and flights

During the first 4 months, the volume of passengers inched up as follows:

• domestic passengers, up 1.6% to 1.826 million from 1.796 million a year ago
• international passengers, up 3.1% to 591,390 from 537,531 a year ago

The increase in passengers was a result of the hike in number of flights arriving at or departing from Mactan-Cebu airport. A total of 22,164 flights flew in and out of Cebu from January to April, or 16% more than the 19,088 flights in the same period a year ago.

Last February, MCIAA general manager and chief executive officer Nigel Paul Villarete asked the Cebu Aeronautics Board (CAB) to impose a moratorium on additional flights to and from the international airport due to passenger congestion until the expansion project is completed.

Expansion

The expansion project through the public private partnership (PPP) scheme involves the construction of a world-class passenger terminal building with a capacity of 8 million passengers a year.

The DOTC has prequalified 7 bidders including the biggest business groups in the Philippines and their foreign partners:

• AAA Airport Partners led by conglomerate Ayala Corp. and Cebu-based Aboitiz Equity Ventures together with Houston airport operator ADC&HAS 
• Filinvest-CAI Consortium of taipan Andrew Gotianun with Singapore’s Changi Airport
• Lopez-led First Philippine Airports together with New Zealand’s Infratil Asia Limited
• GMR Infrastructure and Megawide Consortium with India’s Delhi Airport
• MPIC-JGS Airport Consortium of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings with Aeroports de Lyon of France
• SM-led Premier Airport Group of retail magnate Henry Sy with Switzerland’s Zurich Airport operators
• San Miguel-Incheon Airport Consortium of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. and the operator of South Korea’s Incheon Airport

– Rappler.com