Mactan airport traffic ‘slightly improving’ but double-digit decline still seen

Photo courtesy of Mactan Cebu International Airport

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Statistics on passenger and air traffic in Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) may have slightly improved since June but it is still a huge drop compared to those posted in 2019.

From January to August this year, MCIA Authority (MCIAA), the co-operator and co-manager of MCIA, recorded to have accommodated around 2.6 million passengers both aboard domestic and international flights.

However, it was still an estimated 70 percent drop compared to the 8.5 million passengers served for the same period in 2019.

Around 1.8 million passengers recorded in 2020 had domestic itineraries while 780,575 for international.

MCIAA General Manager and Lawyer Steve Dicdican has earlier said that stakeholders running the country’s second-busiest gateway were expecting a plunge of about three million in passenger traffic alone.

In terms of air traffic, MCIAA recorded a total of 25,824 domestic and international flights during 2020’s first eight months. The number was also a 64 percent drop compared to those logged in 2019 which was at 71,600.

The bulk of the 25,824 flights that had taken off and landed in MCIA from January to August in 2020 were covering domestic destinations. Only 6,047 of these were international ones.

Slight improvement

Both passenger and air traffic in MCIA took a dive in the months of April and May, when the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) peaked here in the Philippines as well as in most parts of the globe.

Around 7,500 passengers, both from local and international destinations, were only accommodated, and that no incoming international passengers were recorded in these two months due to stricter travel restrictions put in place.

Figures have only started to gradually climb in June when the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) decided to loosen up several quarantine restrictions.

MCIAA stated that before the pandemic happened, there were 28 commercial airline companies with flights to and from MCIA.

It can also be recalled that the private consortium co-managing and co-operating Mactan airport together with MCIAA has earlier disclosed a 10 percent decline in their income as a result of the pandemic’s economic impact.

READ MORE: MCIA income down by 10% due to COVID-19 crisis

Despite these challenges, airport officials will still pursue projects in the pipeline that aims to expand MCIA’s runway as well as upgrade its existing facilities.

/dbs