President Duterte inaugurates 

Philippine’s 1st resort airport 

MCIA Terminal 2, Lapulapu City, Cebu June 7 (PIA) --President Rodrigo Roa Duterte officiated the unveiling of the marker signifying the inauguration of the country’s and possibly the world’s first resort airport, June 7, 2018. 

Standing before the mostly awed crowd of over 600 guests gaping at what has been dubbed the most beautiful airport in the country, Duterte said he is extra proud to be a citizen of this country and a worker of the government that produced something good for the people. 

“It’s exciting to see how we have come this far showing the results of our promise of change,” the president added of the crown jewel of his administration’s Infrastructure program. 

“Today, I am proud to join the people of Cebu in inaugurating this project,” the President in his black polo shirt also passed his excitement to the foreign diplomats and guests during the late afternoon event held inside the passenger lounge of the new terminal. 

The P17.5 billion international terminal of the refurbished Mactan island Cebu International Airport (MCIA) has been a dream come true for general manager Atty. Steven Dicdican. 

Atty Dicdican admitted that while the conceptualization of the project started with then president Benigno Simeon Aquino III, much of the challenges that could have derailed the project. 

The new world class airport terminal, acclaimed as world's first tourism gateway destination airport, is in itself a work of art, one that would awaken the Filipino sense of pride. 

On the process, Dicdican admitted there were people who never believed it can be done, being conceived at an unfortunate time when airports of the country suffered the brunt of mismanagement and Laglag-Bala. 

Designed by Hongkong-based Integrated Design Associates and built by a consortium of engineers: an Indian firm with an extensive experience in airport development and local interior designers led by Kenneth Cobonpue, the airport terminal has been the government’s long term solution to the congested terminal at MCIA, according to Dicdican. 

Aiming for the best designs, there were lots of debates from the roof structures to the details of the washrooms and the decision to use wood as its main elements, consortium GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC) President Manuel Louis Ferrer bared. 

GMCAC said they have always believed in Filipino ingenuity as shown by the country’s building experience in the past, and added for one that shows a transformation to engineer the first-world Philippines within this generation. 

Funded by the government’s Build, Build, Build as among the 6 airports and 75 other key infrastructure projects, MCIA’s resort Terminal 2 now sits on a 45,000 square meter property eyed to be expanded further to occupy the entire 65,000. 

RESORT TERMINAL 

Conceptualized as a gateway to the tourism islands in the Visayas, MCIA Terminal 2 designers tackled the task of conveying the warm welcome and hospitality of the Cebuanos in an eco-friendly environment that celebrates the island’s furniture heritage. 

The three storey sprawling facility has roof that imitates the undulating waves of Cebu beaches. 

And while the wavy roof poses an engineering challenge in tropical climates, Mactan’s T2 adopts the trademarked Riverclack standing seam metal roofing system for dependable all weather performance.  

With Cebu’s furniture mogul and interior designer on board in the interior design, the team decided for the use of the dynamic and graceful arched glue-laminated (glulam) timber that rises 26 meters up and embellished with curved wood planks imbedded with muted lighting, to convey the resort ambiance. 

Tall ceilings reminiscent of cathedrals that have proven efficiency in air circulation, also provide an opportunity to go for less air cooling technologies. 

The builders also used layered tempered glass to allow sunlight to illuminate the building interiors, as also allows travelers unobstructed view of the runway and the airport environment. 

Builders claim that the layered tempered glass allows light to get into the interiors but thick enough to keep the tropical heat from penetrating the interiors. 

As sunlight is filtered from the glass roofs, it hits on the terrazzo flooring embedded with mother-of-pearl shards that sparkle and provide an unmistakable feeling of walking on sand in Cebu’s beaches. 

Designers also use live moss walls in the washrooms: patches of green that alleviates stress, efficient deodorizer as well as excellent humidity stabilizer. 

As to its fixtures, the use of the clever interplay of woven rattan and the grandiose grain of mahogany lends the elegant resort feel in the passenger check in counters. 

PHYSICAL INNOVATIONS 

Started in June 2015, the multi-billion MCIA T2 airport terminal would serve international flights while the older terminal 1 would serve the domestic flight services. 

A link bridge would connect Terminals 1 and 2 to facilitate inter-island as well as international connecting flights. 

As initial planned improvements from the congested airport Terminal 1, T2 designers talked of bigger check-in counters, cozy lounges, ample parking slots and better transient facilities, the new T2, during its inauguration had 8 aero bridges for passenger boarding, ample parking spaces and better automated baggage handling systems. 

As Terminal 1 was designed to serve 4.5 million passengers, it increased its passenger traffic volume after the government approved a refurbishment and airport operators went seriously after emerging markets. 

By 2017, MCIA has increased its passenger traffic by 11.72 % to 9.97 million, according to GMCAC. 

With the new terminal, MCIA prepares for 12.5 million passenger traffic even as plans to build a parallel runway have already been revealed. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol) 

President Rodrigo Duterte along with Department of transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade led the government officails and private investors attending the inauguration of the multi-billion Terminal 2 of the Mactan cebu International Airport June 7. (photo by VVV/pia-7/Cebu)