Going Back Into The Future

Breaking out from the darkness of the night and flying free from the cluster of the medium altitude clouds, the Airbus 320 descended and prepared for arrival. As the magnificent city lights appeared before us, I could not help but be proud of what Cebu has become through the years.

True, the global crisis has descended upon us; and on top of this, Fedex has left Subic to transfer its hub to China. UPS is next, and it has finalized its plans to bring its intra-Asia hub from Clark to Southern China too. But Mactan-Cebu International Airport continues to enjoy the presence of the Fedex Airbus 310 and the UPS - PEAC Boeing 727, six days weekly.

While we continue to experience a decrease in international flights, load factors on these flights have increased. The welcome news is that domestic flights continue to climb, and as of today, they have reached a record 385 flights weekly. Cebu-Manila hub to hub traffic is more than 21 flights a day now. Both Cebu-Davao and Cebu-Iloilo is five times daily.

From the Cebu Hub, we now have 20 domestic destinations and 12 international destinations. At present, even the general aviation (light aircraft) charters to places in Bohol, Bantayan and nearby places of interest are picking up and gradually connecting with its commercial counterparts. In the not-too-distant future, we will realize connections between air and sea transportation here at Mactan.

But all of these activities focus on the people that come and go through our airport terminals, night and day, for 24 hours, 7 days a week. We have had many activities in January and February as a result of Cebu’s fast rising reputation of being a favorite destination for meetings, incentive tours, conferences and exhibits, both nationally and internationally.

Business and tourism in the past years have made Mactan, Cebu the Gateway-Hub it is now. With 4 Million total passengers last year, we are close to reaching the limit of the passenger terminal. Its expansion is in the process and will be completed next year. Lufthansa Technik Philippines is about to complete its ramp expansion in a couple of months to prepare for the arrival of PAL’s Boeing 777 ERs. And soon we will see the first flight from Cebu to the United States. We envision a new generation terminal right after the present terminal’s expansion. The time is right to build capacity.

From the time I was flying fighters at the 5th Fighter Wing in exercises with the USAF 3rd Wing, aviation has taken a new light in the country. At no time in the past has there been so much flying, commercially; and today, our people, have all the opportunity to fly to different places, locally and internationally, in ways unimaginable before.