Philippine conglomerates Ayala and Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) have formed a consortium with US-based Airport Development Corporation (ADC) and Houston Airport System (HAS) to bid for the $240m Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) Passenger Terminal project in the Philippines.
The Philippine Government is expected to seek bids for the rehabilitation of the existing terminal and construction of a new terminal at the airport located on Mactan Island in Cebu Province, which can serve eight million international passengers per year.
AEV president & CEO Erramon Aboitiz said that ADC&HAS has led airport and commercial development for over 40 years, heading landmark airport privatisations in countries such as Canada, Hungary, Ecuador, Costa Rica and South Korea.
“Coupled with the technical resources from HAS, the world’s 6th largest airport system, we’re confident that our alliance with ADC&HAS will allow us to develop a world-class airport facility in Mactan that all Filipinos will be proud of,” Aboitiz said.
According to Ayala, ADC&HAS brings with it the operational strength and technicalities of HAS and the airport privatisation and development knowledge of ADC.
Ayala president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala said that ADC&HAS’s experience in building and operating airports in multiple emerging markets under a PPP concession framework makes it a suitable partner for the project.
“We believe their expertise in airport operations together with the combined strengths of the Aboitiz and Ayala groups can offer the opportunity to significantly increase the standards of airport operations in the country,” Ayala said.
Planned to be carried out in a public-private partnership (PPP), the Philippine government is also planning to construct a cargo terminal, a new generation terminal building, a maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, an aircraft assembly plant and a parallel runway.
Image: The new international terminal at MCIA aims to improve the airport’s passenger handling capacity.
