ONE of the “beautiful airport terminal buildings in the world” will open in Cebu in the middle of this year.
Andrew Harrison, chief executive advisor of GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC), said Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) Terminal 2 will be operational in the first week of July.
With the opening of the new terminal and the newly-launched flights outside Cebu, GMCAC, the private operator managing MCIA, projected an average of 12 percent increase of passenger arrivals this year.
That is 11.2 million passenger traffic, including international and domestic flights, from the 9.97 million passenger traffic last year.
The Terminal 2 project, which construction started last June 29, 2015, roughly costs P17 billion.
The new terminal is now at 74 percent before its completion.
It is projected to be completed in March.
In the concession agreement, Harrison said the new terminal of MCIA was set to be built in an area of 42,000 square meters, but they decided to construct it in a 65,000-square meter land as they want more space, comfort and convenience.
“The type of materials that we’ve used in the terminal really will make this, in my opinion, one of the beautiful terminal buildings in the world. There is no other terminal in the world that used this quantity of wood for the roofing of the terminal. And why did we choose wood? We chose wood because it is far more efficient from the fire rating standpoint and secondly, it is more representative of the culture and heritage in Cebu,” said Harrison.
The terminal will have three levels that will cater passengers for international flights.
Harrison said the flooring is being done now.
“The flooring looks very beautiful because again we are creating a resort concept. So when you go in there, the feeling is you are not in a box terminal, you are something in a quite unique,” he said.
Harrison gave a few details on what will Terminal 2 looks like.
It will have ceilings which are about 26 meters high, natural sunlight can get inside, its polished concrete floor have mother of pearls inserted in it, the flooring will look like sand representing Cebu as a tropical island, the departure and arrival area will be on separate levels and “there will only be two check-in islands with 48 counters.”
There will also be new types of retail shops for apparel, jewelries, cosmetics and other products in the Philippines. The concessionaire’s space will cover 15,000 square meters.
GMCAC also worked with local designers for the interior of the terminal.
According to Harrison, the new terminal is designed to cater 4.5 million passengers.
By the time the international flights will be moved to Terminal 2, Harrison said it will immediately have 3.5 million passengers then.
Since it will only be an area for international flights, Harrison said that they will have series of “open days” where people can register to come and walkthrough the terminal once everything is completed. Terminal 1 or the existing terminal will have the domestic flights.
“A lot of domestic travelers may not get the chance to use and experience the terminal. This airport is their airport. It’s for the people of Cebu and the Visayas so we want them to be able to come and experience for themselves and see how this facility is being designed,” he said.
JR Ramos, consultant of GMCAC, said they will expose the terminal to all stakeholders, including the academe, media, hotel groups, transport groups and the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority officials.
According to GMCAC, the projected increase of passenger arrivals to Cebu this year is also due to the new flights outside Cebu.
GMCAC welcomed more Chinese airlines to Cebu, which have direct flights to six destinations in China, including Beijing, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Kunming, Shanghai and Xian.
GMCAC president Louie Ferrer said China is emerging as the world’s highest spending tourist market and is one of GMCAC’s highest priorities.
“MCIA welcomed an addition of six new airlines namely Air Juan, Juneyao Air, OK Air, Lucky Air, Sichuan Airlines and Pan Pacific Airlines in 2017,” a part of the press statement read.
Juneyao Air, OK Air, Lucky Air and Sichuan Airlines are from China.
Aside from China, GMCAC is targeting to have more flights to South Korea, Japan and Australia. (FMG/VoxPop Cebu)