Passenger volume at Mactan-Cebu International Airport grew 14.6 percent year-on-year in the first nine months, the airport’s operator said Thursday.
GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. said in a statement MCIA accommodated 8.6 million passengers in January to September, up from 7.5 million passengers it handled 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.
Domestic passengers accounted for 66 percent of the total, while international passengers represented 34 percent.
Sichuan Airlines increased flights to Chongqing from four times weekly to daily starting October, while Philippine Airlines increased flights to Nagoya from three times to four times weekly. Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific increased flights to Hong Kong from daily to ten times weekly starting Nov. 26; and flights to Tokyo Narita from four times weekly to daily starting Dec. 1.
Tiger Taiwan launched its Cebu to Taipei route with four times weekly flights on Dec. 2.
Cebu Pacific will start operating four times weekly Cebu to Macau flights on Dec. 7. Korean low-cost carrier Jeju Air, meanwhile, will commence five times weekly operations between Cebu and Muan, South Korea starting Dec. 21.
GMCAC previously announced that it opened 15 new routes in 2018, 12 of them from China. The company reported an increase in the frequencies of international flights which corresponded with the opening of MCIA’s new international terminal (Terminal 2) on July 1, 2018.
MCIA is connected to 33 domestic destinations and 22 international destinations, with 9 domestic airline partners and 24 international airline partners.
The airport was named one of Asia’s best airports. MCIA was awarded Asia Pacific Medium Airport of the Year during the Center for Aviation Aviation Awards for Excellence in Singapore.