Laguindingan Airport

Overview

The airport project is located in the municipality of Laguindingan, province of Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao, Philippines. The airport project envisages the development of new major trunkline airport compliant to international standards as to safety and operation in order to meet the air transportation demand of the region. The airport project also aims to boost the economic activities specifically of the Cagayan-Iligan Corridor, and expected to serve as the gateway to Northern Mindanao.

The airport has a single 2,100 x 45 meter runway, which can accommodate four takeoffs and landings an hour. It also features a 7,184 square metres (77,330 sq ft) passenger terminal building that can accommodate 1.6 million passengers a year. The airport can accommodate 2,000 passengers a day.

Funding and implementation

The airport project was implemented by the Philippine Government through the Department of Transportation and Communications. After the completion of the project, the airport was turned-over to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.

The approved cost of the airport project is US$ 167.09 million or ₱ 7.853 billion. The cost was duly approved by the National Economic and Development Authority Board on August 30, 2007. Plans for the airport have existed since 1991, but have been stymied by land acquisition and financing problems. Although the Philippine Government has signed a US$ 25 million soft loan agreement with the South Korean government through its Economic Development Cooperation Fund, there has been difficulty in raising counterpart funding for acquisition of the estimated 300 hectares of land eventually required by the airport complex.

The Laguindingan Airport Development Project was inaugurated on January 10, 2006 with groundbreaking ceremonies presided by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who advocated the idea of an international airport along the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan Corridor.

Construction

By July 2007, the construction of the 4.4 kilometer four-lane access road had started to connect the new airport to the national road.

By early 2008, the start of grading of the airport site area. It was headed by the Department of Transportation and Communications and its foreign and local consultants, South Korea based Yooshin Engineering Corporation and Ortigas Center, Pasig based SCHEMA Konsult, Inc. respectively, and Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Company as the general contractor of the project.

Opening

President Benigno Aquino III expected that the opening of the airport would happen in April 2013, however, on April 18, 2013, DOTC announced that the opening of the airport would be pushed back to June 15, 2013 instead of April 30, 2013 because CAAP had received requests from airlines to postpone the transfer until after the summer peak season, as the April 30 opening would require the cancellation of several daily trips. The airport expected to facilitate night landings by December 2014 upon the completion of the installment of Instrument Landing System and other equipment in the airport. The airport was inaugurated by President Benigno Aquino III on June 13, 2013, two days prior to its opening.

Recent developments

On March 12, 2015, the airport began to accommodate night flights. This became possible after the installation of navigational equipment for night operations was completed in 2014. With this recent development, the airport's operating hours was increased to 5 a.m.–9 p.m. from the previous daytime 6 a.m.–6 p.m. daily schedule.

Expansion

In August 2013, the Project Development and Monitoring Facility Board had approved for the revision of the operations and maintenance of the airport. The operations and maintenance of the airport was already approved for funding, but was revised to include the construction of a new airport terminal to the winning PPP bidder. The Department of Transportation and Communications was tasked to construct the airport terminal along with other airside civil works, air navigational facilities, landslide building works, as well as other facilities. The revision is part of maintaining the airport on par with ICAO standards.

According to Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and Airport Manager Jose Bodiongan, the airport would become the “busiest regional transportation hub” with the installation of the runway lights, navigation equipment (required for nighttime flights) and the purchase of two new fire trucks.

An expansion of the passenger and cargo terminals, and parking lot are also currently being planned. With the large South Korean presence in Cagayan de Oro, the regional Department of Tourism is eyeing flights from Busan to Cagayan de Oro via Singapore or a direct route from Busan to Cagayan de Oro to further bolster the tourism industry in the region. The CAAP is set to initially approve Busan-Cagayan de Oro and Seoul-Cagayan de Oro flights by the fourth quarter of 2015.

Aerotropolis

Ayala Land, who owned 183 of the 417 hectares of land acquired by the government to develop the airport complex, has future plans to develop an aerotropolis around the airport. This is part of the pre-conditions granted by Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines for expropriating the lands the government bought from the corporation. Ayala Corporation, the parent company of Ayala Land, is also one of the bidders in privatizing, through the public-private partnership scheme, the operations and maintenance of the airport.