Airport to woo more airlines in next two years, exec says

GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. Chief Commercial Adviser Ravishankar Saravu (leftmost), with EVA Air General Manager Steven Wu (second to the right), and the pilot and flight attendant of EVA Air’s inaugural flight in Cebu, cut the cake together, symbolizing the partnership formed between the airport and the airline. (CDN PHOTO/VANESSA LUCERO)

It will be a busy two years for the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) as officials aggressively market the airport to international airlines before Terminal 2 is completed in 2018.

Nigel Paul C. Villarete, MCIAA general manager, said looking for new airlines has become “crucial” as work has started on the new terminal, which will bring the airport’s capacity to 12.5 million passengers from the current 4.5 million.

The airport served 7.1 million passengers last year.

“It can take up to two years to discuss partnerships between an airport and an airline, so we have to start looking as soon as possible,” Villarete said in an interview at the sidelines of the inaugural Cebu-Taipei direct flight of Taiwan’s Eva Air yesterday.

The Cebu-Taipei flight is the second international link introduced at the airport this month, after the Philippine Airlines direct service between Cebu and Los Angeles, California last March 15.

Today, the Cebu-Xiamen flight via Xiamen Air will be launched. On Wednesday, March 30, Emirates will start offering the Cebu-Dubai link.

By the end of March, Cebu will have direct links to 12 international destinations, namely Busan, Dubai, Hong Kong, Incheon, Osaka, Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles, Nagoya, Narita, Singapore, Taipei, and Xiamen.

Villarete said they were able to talk to 24-30 airlines and 10 airports during the Routes Asia Strategy Summit 2016 held in Manila last March 6-8.

He declined to reveal the names of the international airlines they were in talks with, except to say that the discussions sound promising.

Villarete said their priority sectors, or the preferred international destinations out of Cebu, include China, India, and  Southeast Asian countries.

Flights to and from Australia and Thailand are also being considered, he added.

Airport concessionaire GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., meanwhile, is eyeing long-haul flights connecting to mainland US, Middle East, and Europe.

“To a certain extent, we are happy that GMR came in with us as partners. They have years of experience, having operated four airports,” Villarete said.