MCIAA To Construct Additional Runway

The Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) will construct additional runway to be used in case of emergency that renders the main runway unusable such as aircraft accidents or maintenance work.

Steve Dicdican, MCIAA General Manager said that the construction of new runway will provide a better and hassle-free service to passengers.

“In the past, we have often experienced closures of our single runway due to repair, maintenance, inspections, or aircraft accidents. We want to avoid these kinds of operational disruptions and inconvenience to our passengers in the future, and that is why we are eager to construct this additional runway,” Dicdican said.

He also revealed that MCIA is projected to increase the average hourly traffic at 43 Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) by 2032.

“Aircraft emergencies can happen at any time, as we experienced in Cebu and Manila. We also have to factor in the runway maintenance and repairs that need to be conducted. Given the volume of air traffic that MCIA has and its impact on our community and economy, we need to ensure that airport operations will not be disrupted,” Dicdican said.

The said runway is an independent parallel runway and is part of GMR MEGAWIDE’s proposed 50-year masterplan for the airport.

“We need both projects. We need the proposed independent runway if we are to have a complete solution to the runway congestion that have plagued busy airports. However, we do not want to wait until 2032 or until our single runway’s capacity threshold is reached before we do something to protect and improve our runway operations,” said Dicdican.