MCIA passenger traffic hits 5.17 million in first half

PASSENGER TRAFFIC at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA), the country’s second-busiest airport, reached 5.17 million from January to June this year, 16% higher than the same period in 2016 and hitting half of the airport’s 10 million target for 2017, based on data from the MCIA Authority. During the six-month period, international passengers increased 40% to 1.59 million from 1.14 million year on year, while domestic passengers reached 3.58 million, up 8% from 3.32 million. Air traffic volume also saw a 22% growth to 43,268 from 35,570 during the period in review. Megawide Construction Corp., which took over operations of the Mactan airport in November 2014 through GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC) with its Bangalore-based foreign partner GMR Infrastructure Ltd., earlier said its airport business remains strong with the double-digit increase in passenger and air traffic volume at the MCIA. The construction of MCIA’s new passenger Terminal 2 is in full swing and is expected to be completed by June next year. This will bring the airport’s capacity to a total of 12.5 million passengers per annum. — The Freeman