A soaring news for airline commuters via Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) portal locally and internationally-bound disclosed about an increment of the airstrip’s terminal fee. Passengers leaving and entering the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) premises will have to pay an additional P200 starting November 1, 2014. For domestic passengers, only one-fifth of the proposed increase will be enforced immediately.

The aforementioned increment has been approved by the Mactan Cebu International Airport Board during its meeting last Friday in Manila taking into deliberate considerations of the so called new passenger service charge (PSC), routinely known as the terminal fee. The meeting was officiated by the department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Undersecretary Jojo Lotilla. Furthermore, an official statement will be disclosed sooner in regard by Airport General Manager Nigel Paul Villarete. Currently, service charge for international passengers is P550 and P200 for the domestic commuters. On the fresh start of next month, the proposed increments take effect which will be P750 for international and P220 for domestic destinations; however domestic flights terminal fee will be up to the originally ratified P300 by the MCIAA board on January 1, 2016.

Moreover, a private takeover of the facility by GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. of the domestic and international terminal operations in Mactan is set on November 1, 2014 in coincidence with the increase of the PSC fees. The profit of the increase has been partitioned, but the bulk of it goes to MCIAA, aviation security, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and the airline companies. Airport General Manager Nigel Paul Villarete also imparted that the said increase in service charges will also cover the projected P1-billion decrease in MCIAA’s revenue, as a result of the transfer of landside terminal operations to GMR-Megawide next month.

The rates of terminal fees locally are virtually on the same range, differing only by a margin. By virtue of Memorandum Circular No. 09-13, Series of 2013, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has increased the passenger service charge of airports under its jurisdiction effective last June 1, 2014. However the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) stressed that the terminal fees for most airports have not been increased and remained unchanged over time. The memorandum circular states that increases will be imposed every June 1 of 2013 to 2015 for major airports.