Raring to do more

LAPU LAPU CITY – Two foreign financial analysts invited by Citibank’s Philippine operations were in Cebu and Manila last week briefing the banks prime Citigold clients. The first things they said were praises for the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

It was almost as if they couldn’t believe they were in the Philippines. Maybe they flew in directly to Cebu from Singapore because they were soon back to reality as they flew into Manila.

 They had the usual complaints we have about NAIA. Their commercial flights had to wait a long time to get clearance to fly from Mactan to Manila and it later had to circle around NAIA because of airport congestion. One of them complained that his time is valuable. I wanted to tell him, wait until he helplessly sits in standstill Metro Manila land traffic.

 But that’s the thing. Even a Filipino top official of a top international financial management firm couldn’t help but tell his audience of top tier Citibank clients that they should take a trip to Cebu and see the new airport terminal. He called it a morale booster for Filipinos constantly embarrassed by NAIA.

But the private sector consortium responsible for the transformation of Mactan Cebu International Airport is not about to rest on these accolades for a job well done. They are raring to do more.

If this government knows what is good for the country, they will waste no time letting the GMR Megawide consortium complete the job of fixing the Mactan Cebu airport. Indeed, even before they formally inaugurated Terminal 2, they sent an unsolicited proposal to DOTr to do more for the airport.

To the credit of DOTr, GMR Megawide received the Original Proponent Status on its proposal to work on the airside development of the Mactan airport last February. It is now taking NEDA a bit of time reviewing the proposal.

Hopefully the NEDA Board approves the proposal this year so work can start on the upgrade of the runway, taxiways and other associated facilities by next year. There is so much work to be done and our desk-bound bureaucrats should waste no more time shuffling papers to appear busy.

The immediate rehabilitation of the airside facilities is Megawide’s most immediate concern as airport operator. They have to improve the efficiency of aircraft movements.

In more specific terms, they want to rehabilitate MCIA’s existing runway and taxiways; construct an additional full length parallel taxiway that can act as an emergency runway; and, develop additional rapid exit taxiways and runway holding positions. 

Then, Megawide wants to do more to secure Cebu’s unconstrained passenger growth for the next 50 years. This calls for the construction of a second parallel and independent runway to significantly increase airside capacity.

 As explained to me, a second runway is essential to sustain the growth in Cebu air traffic in the long term. They think now is the right time to ensure that Cebu does not experience the same kind of air traffic congestion that Manila is suffering. They are confident that if they are given the go signal now, Mactan Cebu will become the first Philippine airport with two parallel independent runways. 

Further on, they plan to construct a third terminal and develop other related facilities. They were telling me three years ago that the single runway needs servicing, reason enough why they want to get the work going on the parallel taxiway. 

 When they took over MCIA in November 2014, the airport was handling 6.9 million passengers per annum in a facility designed for 4.5 mppa. After 12 months of modification works to expand passenger processing areas and capacity, they were able to increase the capacity to 8.5 mppa, and the current demand is 10.2 mppa.

Terminal 2 is modular in design and will be further expanded by the year 2024 to meet demand forecasted for 2029. On its opening in July, T2 has a rated capacity of 4.1 mppa. T2 will be for international flights only and T1 for domestic flights. They anticipate an 11 percent increase in international traffic for now.

Megawide has one year to further renovate T1. This will be completed in June 2019 and will take T1’s design capacity from today’s 8.5 mppa to 11.7 mppa. By June 2019, the combined capacities of T1 (11.7 mppa) and T2 (4.1 mppa) will give MCIA a total capacity of 15.8 mppa.

Unlike government operations, private sector operators think in terms of measurable results. Hindi puedeng bahala na. They have reduced check-in time to 6.85 minutes from 10.5 minutes. Luggage retrieval is now 6.5 minutes, reduced from 11 minutes, referring to getting the first bag on baggage claim after aircraft reaches aerobridge stand for domestic flights 87 percent of the time.

They take quarterly surveys, asking a minimum of 350 passengers at departures to rank 34 airport elements (wi-fi, value for money, immigration processing, sense of security, washroom cleanliness, signage and many more elements). 

That’s the thing with a private sector entity running the airport. They plan ahead and for quick measurable results. That’s how they earn the return on investments. They even go on promotion trips abroad to get more airlines to use the airport, which increases their revenues and delivers more tourists to Cebu.

Manny Gonzalez of Plantation Bay told me he asked some of his foreign visitors their impressions of the new T2. They expressed satisfaction, Manny said, even customs and immigration officers are courteous and professional. The overall atmosphere at the Mactan Cebu International Airport is a good positive contrast to other airports like Kalibo or even NAIA that handle a large number of tourists.

Hopefully government decision makers share their enthusiasm to deliver world class airport services and speed up the approval process so actual work can begin.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco