The Road To Being Number One

Part 4

“He departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.”– Luke 6:12

It is true that when one goes up to a good spot in the mountains to be one with the surroundings and view the landscape from the top, he gets so overwhelmed and breaks down in thanksgiving for being able to appreciate everything about life. And this reaction is nothing but the best form of prayer.

The same is true when one boards an airliner. I often see passengers make the sign of the Cross, and throughout the flight, lay in meditation and prayer because perhaps of the helplessness of his situation, but more so that the passenger feels he or she rests only in the hands of the Creator.

Only a hundred years have passed since Orville and Wilbur Wright made that first powered flight in Kitty Hawk; and now, with the advent of low cost amenities, more and more people are able to fly, to see places they have only seen in their dreams and reunite with long lost friends and family. As I write this piece and look at the F-15 model fighter on my desk, I start to look back at my past in the Air Force and how our Mactan Cebu International Airport has grown through the years.

Many frequent travelers have told me about Changi International in Singapore, Chep Lap Kok at Hong Kong, KLIA at Kuala Lumpur and other world renowned and recognized intercontinental hubs, and how far behind we are. Of course, who would not be discouraged by such comparisons. But I quickly emphasize that Mactan-Cebu International is not a capital city airport like all of them. True we can never be like these intercontinental hubs, but we will develop as a major regional, domestic and inter-modal hub and even an alternate intercontinental airport. And in this way, none of those capital city airports can ever be like Mactan Cebu.

Lat October 10, Lufthansa Techniks Philippines started its Mactan expansion. The future home for the Airbus 320 Maintenance and Overhaul Facility, it will have people and facilities highly specialized for this type of airliner. This facility will also be home to the Intercontinental Boeing 777s that will fly the Cebu-US route.

A week later, we had the fiesta of the airport. Celebrated yearly on the third Friday of October, it commemorates the formal installation of the Sto. Nino at the airport chapel. We had the daily novena masses and then the procession the day before. This year we thought of opening the first ever Athletic Cup and ending this in time for the MCIAA Anniversary on the 18th of December.

Last Monday, October 20, Shenzen Airlines flew a chartered flight form Cebu to Shanghai. No less than a board member and the AGM, Romy Bersonda, were on that first flight. The aircraft flew back on Sunday, October 26. While this is again a first and a charter flight, it will surely be followed by more as the tour operators, airlines and airport authorities start to put policies and procedures in place. In an earlier article, I described the probing operations of China Southern, China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines and now Shenzen Airlines to our airport.

I also have gotten word that China Airlines, the mother company of Mandarin Airlines, will take a more active role in the flights between Cebu and Taiwan. At present, Mandarin has a total of four flights weekly to Taipei and two flights to Kaoshung.

6th UN World Tourism Organization Meeting

The airport preparation for the 6th UN-WTO International Tourism Forum was not as much and as hectic as those we have done for the ASEAN Summit in 2007. Not that this forum was not as important; in fact, it involved more than 60 countries, representing all the continents around the globe, as well as delegations from all over the country. The global participation was the best opportunity to test our premise: “The fact that Mactan-Cebu International Airport is connected to the best intercontinental hubs in the world means that from anywhere in the world, one can come to Cebu and vice versa.” And as an additional advantage, “Cebu’s being at the geographic center of the country means that it is now an operating Domestic Hub.”

Parliamentarians and member countries of the world converged at Doha, Qatar, Changi at Singapore, Chep Lap Kok at Hong Kong, Inchon at Seoul, Narita at Japan, or KLIA at Kuala Lumpur and flew direct to Cebu, or through the NAIA, Manila Gateway from LA, Amsterdam, Bangkok, Dubai or Sydney.

Similarly, country delegates from all parts of Visayas and Mindanao flew direct to Cebu or through Manila from parts of Luzon. The forum was held at the Mactan Shangri-La Resort Hotel, October 21-24, with a technical tour to Bohol on the 25th.

The success of the forum, quantitatively and qualitatively, places the Philippines as the forerunner in hosting the UN-WTO Global Plenary Forum for 2011, according to Director Dawnie Roa of DOT Region 7 and a distinguished member of the MCIAA Board of Directors.

Cebu is now a M.I.C.E Hub, as Mayen Tan said in one article. And truly, Meetings, Incentive Tours, Conventions and Exhibitions continue to be held in Mactan-Cebu. While meeting UN WTO delegates, we also had many other participants of corporate, school and government associations arriving at the airport. One of them is an exhibit of Canadian products and creations at the Marco Polo.

During the departure day of the UN-WTO delegates on October 26, Philippine Air Lines re-launched the Cebu-Osaka route. PAL President and CEO Jimmy Bautista and Senior Executives from the Corporate Headquarters and Jun Pilapil VP for Visayas and Mindanao and senior staff, as well as Dolly Dabuet for Air Philippines, were on hand to meet the passengers. A formal dinner hosted by Marco Polo GM Hans Hauri, PAL and DOT for the Officials of Osaka, Executive Director of Kansai International Airport and Tour Operators, followed at Marco Polo.

Airports cannot develop and become prosperous without good airlines and government partnership. I have often stated in a proud way how our national carriers have raised us to number 2 in domestic air travel growth in Asia in 2007, and number 3 in the world, next only to Mexico and India, in the same period. We are on the road to being number one in following world standards on airports. But the only way for those who get to use our airport facilities to remember us is by doing something we are good at…being the best hosts to everyone!