Lucky passengers get a little something special at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) this holiday season in line with the airport’s theme “Pasko sa Baryo.”
GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., operator of the Mactan Airport, has decked the terminal’s halls with Christmas lanterns and strings of lights.
Entryways are decorated with arches made of branches and parols while groups of carolers fill the terminal space with merry Christmas hymns.
“When people get off the plane and get in the airport, we want them to immediately feel a sense of coming home,” said Estee Marie Plunket, GMR-Megawide head of corporate affairs.
Until December 24, Christmas Eve, carolers from different Cebuano organizations and foundations will be stationed in the waiting lounges of the terminals as well as near the entrances and exits of the airport.
They will serenade randomly selected passengers who will be receiving gifts from the airport operator, in partnership with Duty Free Philippines.
The lucky passengers will be greeted by airport personnel dressed as Santa’s little helpers, who will give them “a little surprise.”
“This is our little treat to those who are coming home,” Plunket said.
The airport concessionaire, in partnership with Cebu Pacific, will also be raffling off plane tickets to three international destinations, namely Tokyo, Taipei, and Incheon. Six lucky winners will receive round trip tickets to any of the three destinations.
To join the raffle, airport passengers simply have to drop their boarding passes in designated drop boxes located in both the international and domestic arrival areas. Airport personnel, again dressed in red and white, are stationed near the drop boxes to facilitate the raffle until January 4.
Passengers traveling on the 25th can expect surprises as well, said GMR-Megawide president Manuel Louie B. Ferrer.
“We’d like to position this [airport] as a fun airport, so for Christmas, we’re doing this. We’re somehow dressing up the airport in a way that you would feel the Philippine festival. The minute you land at the airport, you’ll feel the Christmas spirit,” he said.
Passengers can expect more events like this to crop up at MCIA, management said, as part of the management’s mission to make the airport a destination in itself.