The strong performance of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) helped push the revenues of Megawide Construction Corp. 10 percent higher in the first half of the year.

The diversified engineering and infrastructure conglomerate reported net income of P1.26 billion from January to June this year compared to P1.15 billion in the same period in 2017.

Megawide’s airport business contributed 65 percent to consolidated net earnings. The construction business segment accounted for the remaining percent, the company said in a disclosure.

“We remain optimistic about the company’s continued strong performance in 2018,” said Megawide chairman and CEO Edgar Saavedra. “Our growth prospects continue to be promising with the addition of more routes at Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) and the numerous opportunities in the construction segment. We are also continuing to boost our order book levels to ensure a more stable revenue pipeline in the next three years, at least.”

Airport operations posted a 14 percent growth in revenues to P1.32 billion, attributed to the 12 percent increase in passenger volume. International passengers grew 17 percent, which outperformed domestic passenger growth of 10 percent.

“Traffic growth in Cebu will be driven to a greater extent by our visitors from China. This is an opportunity that we want to maximize,” said Saavedra. “These new flights are the result of sustained airline marketing initiatives and we will continue to work on opening more routes to provide Chinese tourists with even greater accessibility to Cebu and nearby destinations.”

For the first half of 2018, MCIA saw 5.8 million passengers compared to 5.1 million in the same period last year. Domestic passengers accounted for 67 percent while International passengers accounted for 33 percent.