Higher terminal fee eyed for Cebu International Airport

MANILA, Philippines - The Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) is looking at raising the passenger service charge to P300 per departing passenger from P200 and the international passenger service charge to P750 from P550.

The airport authority is set to conduct a public hearing on the proposed higher terminal fee on Sept. 11 to get the views on the planned increase.

The planned increase in terminal fee is being considered as the tandem of Filipino-owned Megawide Construction Corp. and Bangalore-based GMR Airports is undertaking the P17.5-billion expansion project for the Mactan-Cebu international airport.

Last April, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and MCIAA awarded the 25-year concession to the joint venture that plans to transform the country’s second busiest international airport into the world’s first resort-airport.

The PPP project intends to modernize the country’s second-largest aviation hub with the construction of a new world-class international passenger terminal building with an annual capacity of eight million passengers and at the same time expand the existing terminal building.

In 2013, the number of international and domestic passengers that used the Mactan Cebu international airport reached 6.99 million or 3.4 percent higher compared to 6.76 million in 2012. The airport has exceeded its design capacity of 4.5 million as early as 2012.