[ Published by : sunstar.com.ph ] February 3, 2008
AT LEAST P300 million will be allocated for the development of Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) as a gateway hub to the central and southern Philippines.
General Manager Danilo Augusto Francia said this was discussed by the MCIA Authority board in its Jan. 29 meeting.
The president of an airline company was also present during the meeting and discussed their expansion plans for domestic and international operations.
He, however, said he was not at liberty to divulge both the airline official’s name and the details of the company’s
expansion plans.
“But we expect our airport to have more airplanes home-porting at our ramps,” Francia said.
The southwest ramp fronting the Most Important Persons’ (MIP) Lounge will be used for regional aircraft operations, and the MCIAA is now evaluating how much it will cost to develop it.
The National Government-funded MIP Lounge was constructed as a component facility for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Cebu last January 2007.
Located adjacent to the Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base, it has three VIP rooms, one presidential suite, a press conference room and a media center.
It was originally proposed that after the summit, the P46.3-million lounge will serve as passenger terminal for regional flights from Cebu to any part of Visayas and Mindanao.
Also, Francia said that the MCIAA board is evaluating how much it will take to develop Camotes Island’s airfield so as to encourage tourism there.
Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 Director Patria Aurora Roa is a board member.
Sen. Richard Gordon, committee on tourism chairman and former DOT secretary, said that opening regional flights, from Region VII (Mactan airport) to Region V (Bicol) or Mactan airport to Camotes Island or Camiguin Province, for example, will further increase tourist arrivals.
In a presentation in Cebu last August, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano raised the need to start expanding the MCIAA quickly, adding that it already exceeded its terminal capacity of 2.5 million.
The tourism department’s target is to attract one million foreign visitors to Cebu by 2012, from a projected 537,600 in 2007. (EOB)
[ Published by : sunstar.com.ph ] February 3, 2008
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