ABOITIZ InfraCapital GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation and Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) came together for a joint media briefing last June 19 to introduce “Cebu Connect”, the international airport’s newest transfer system service that aims to facilitate more seamless and systematic airport transfers within MCIA.
“We want to make MCIA a world-class tourism and transfer gateway for tourism in the Philippines. In order to achieve this, we have to work together to deliver world-class experience to our customers through technology and the heart of the Filipino, while creating value for our partners, stakeholders, and community,” said Athanasios Titonis, Mactan-Cebu International Airport chief executive officer.
According to Titonis, they aspire to enhance customer experience with an efficient transfer system, reduce connection time, and achieve benchmark status for transfer systems in the Philippines with their latest initiative.
With Cebu Connect, arriving passengers with connecting flights can proceed to the transfer desk of the designated counter of their airline, do baggage drop, have their boarding passes printed, then proceed immediately to the departure level. MCIA has designated eight counters, open 24/7, to serve transfers up to 12 hours before the passengers’ onward flights, equipped with x-ray and storage facilities. A Cebu Airport Transfer Assistance Counter is provided for airlines not currently servicing passengers at the transfer desk.
By streamlining the transfer processes in MCIA, they aim to set minimum connecting times for domestic to domestic connection at 35 minutes; domestic to International connection (and vice versa) to 60 minutes; and international to International connection at 60 minutes, providing passengers a more convenient travel experience.
Representatives from the country’s top airline operators, Cebu Pacific Air, Air Asia Philippines, and Philippine Airlines, were also present to show their support to the Cebu Connect initiative.
“Cebu is our largest hub outside of Manila. We truly believe in its strategic location, which allows our islands to connect seamlessly. We have more aircrafts today than we did back in 2019, and in cooperation with MCIA, we intend to have more,” said Cebu Pacific Air president and chief commercial officer Xander Lao.
Cebu Pacific Air has a total of 28 (23 domestic and 5 international) routes out of Cebu, or about 665 average flights per week. In terms of capacity recovery, the airline is the online airline in the country with a pre-pandemic capacity level at 113%.
In addition to the groundbreaking initiative, the airline also unveiled their new routes emanating from MCIA: Cebu-Bangkok (via Don Mueng Airport) starting Oct. 2; Cebu-San Vicente (Palawan) starting Oct. 24; and Cebu-Masbate starting Oct. 25.
