Laguindingan Airport, also referred to as Laguindingan International Airport ( ceb, Tugpahanang Pangkalibutanon sa Laguindingan, fil, Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Laguindingan; ), is an international airport in Northern Mindanao that serves the cities of

Cagayan de Oro Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan ( ilo, Probinsia ti Cagayan; ibg, Provinsiya na Cagayan; itv, Provinsiya ya Cagayan; fil, Lalawigan ng Cagayan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Cagayan Valley region, covering ...

, Iligan, and

Marawi Marawi, officially the Islamic City of Marawi (Maranao: ''Inged a Marawi''; fil, Islamikong Lungsod ng Marawi), is a 4th class component city and capital of the province of Lanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a po ...

, as well as the provinces of

Misamis Oriental Misamis Oriental ( ceb, Sidlakang Misamis; tl, Silangang Misamis), officially the Province of Misamis Oriental, is a province located in the region of Northern Mindanao in the Philippines. Its capital, largest city and provincial center is th ...

, Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon. The airport is Mindanao's second-busiest airport after Francisco Bangoy International Airport in

Davao City Davao City, officially the City of Davao ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Dabaw; ), is a first class highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of , making it the largest city in the Philippines in terms of lan ...

. It It is classified as a Class 1 principal (major

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

) airport by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), a body of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) responsible for implementing policies on civil aviation to assure safe, economic and efficient air travel, and the handling of operations at airports (except major international ones). The airport sits on a site in Moog,

Laguindingan Laguindingan, officially the Municipality of Laguindingan ( ceb, Lungsod sa Laguindingan; tl, Bayan ng Laguindingan), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Misamis Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

, and is from

and from Iligan. It opened on June 15, 2013, and replaced both Lumbia Airport (now Lumbia Airfield) in Lumbia, Cagayan de Oro and

Maria Cristina Airport Maria Cristina Airport ( Cebuano: ''Tugpahanan sa Maria Cristina''; Maranao: ''Landing a Maria Cristina'') , also known as Iligan Airport, is an airport serving the general area of Iligan, located in the province of Lanao del Norte in the Philip ...

in Maria Cristina, Iligan. Lumbia Airport now serves as a military air base for the

Philippine Air Force The Philippine Air Force (PAF) ( tgl, Hukbong Himpapawid ng Pilipinas, , Army of the Air of the Philippines) ( es, Ejército Aérea del Filipinas, , Ejército de la Aérea de la Filipinas) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Armed Forc ...

, while Maria Cristina Airport in Iligan serves general aviation.

History

Funding and implementation

The airport project was implemented by the Philippine Government through the

Department of Transportation and Communications The Department of Transportation (DOTr; fil, Kagawaran ng Transportasyon) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the maintenance and expansion of viable, efficient, and dependable transportation systems as effe ...

. After the completion of the project, the airport was turned-over to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines. The airport project envisages the development of new major trunkline airports compliant to international standards of safety and operations to meet the air transportation demand of the region. The airport project also aims to boost economic activities, specifically of the Cagayan-Iligan Corridor, and expects to serve as the gateway to Northern Mindanao. The approved cost of the airport project is

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

167.09 million or

₱ The Philippine peso sign (₱) is the currency symbol used for the Philippine peso, the official currency of the Philippines. The symbol resembles a Roman letter P with two horizontal strokes. It differs from the currency symbol used for the pe ...

7.853 billion. The cost was duly approved by the National Economic and Development Authority Board on August 30, 2007. Plans for the upgrade have existed since 1991 but have been stymied by land acquisition and financing problems. Although the Philippine Government has signed a

25 million soft loan agreement with the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n 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 Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (, born April 5, 1947), often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician serving as one of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, House Deputy Spe ...

, who advocated the idea of an international airport along the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan Corridor.

Construction and opening

By July 2007, the construction of the four-lane access road had started to connect the new airport to the national road. In early 2008, grading of the airport site area started. It was headed by the Department of Transportation and Communications and its foreign and local consultants,

-based Yooshin Engineering Corporation and

Ortigas Center Ortigas Center is a central business district located within the joint boundaries of Pasig, Mandaluyong and Quezon City, within the Metro Manila region in the Philippines. With an area of more than , it is Metro Manila's second most important bu ...

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the ...

-based SCHEMA Konsult, Inc. respectively, and Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Company as the general contractor for the project.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Benigno Aquino III expected that the opening of the airport would happen in April 2013. However, on April 18, 2013, the DOTC announced that the opening would be pushed back to June 15, 2013 because CAAP had received requests from airlines to postpone the transfer until after the summer peak season, as an April 30 opening would require the cancellation of several daily trips. It was inaugurated by President Aquino on June 13, 2013, two days before its opening.

Contemporary history

Laguindingan Airport was expected to facilitate night landings by December 2014, upon the completion of the installation of various navigational systems. However, it was only on March 12, 2015, that the airport began to accommodate night flights. With this recent development, operating hours were increased to 5:00 am to 9:00 pm PST from the previous 6:00 am to 6:00 pm PST daily schedule. On October 20, 2017, Cebu Pacific launched the airport as its seventh hub, with its regional subsidiary

Cebgo Cebgo, Inc., operating as Cebgo (stylized in all lowercase as cebgo), is the regional brand of Cebu Pacific. It is the successor company to SEAIR, Inc., which previously operated as South East Asian Airlines and Tigerair Philippines. It is now o ...

adding flights to

Caticlan Malay , officially the Municipality of Malay ( Aklanon: ''Banwa it Malay''; Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Malay''; tl, Bayan ng Malay), is a 1st class cosmopolitan municipality in the province of Aklan, Philippines. It is the richest municipality in ...

and

Dumaguete Dumaguete, officially the City of Dumaguete ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Dumaguete; fil, Lungsod ng Dumaguete), is a 3rd income class component city and the capital of the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a p ...

from the airport. Philippine Airlines opened a Mabuhay Lounge at the airport in January 2018, but has been closed since March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Future development

Upgrading and 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 were already approved for funding but were revised to include the construction of a new terminal to the winning PPP bidder. The Department of Transportation and Communications was tasked to construct the terminal along with other airside civil works, air navigational facilities, landside building works, as well as other facilities. The revision is part of maintaining the airport on par with ICAO standards. On February 26, 2019, Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. was granted by CAAP an Original Proponent Status (OPS) for its unsolicited proposal for the airport's upgrade, expansion, operations, and maintenance. According to the 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 being planned. With the large South Korean presence in Cagayan de Oro, the regional Department of Tourism is eyeing flights from

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

to Cagayan de Oro via

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

or a direct route from Busan to Cagayan de Oro to further bolster the tourism industry in the region. The CAAP was 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 one of the bidders in privatizing, through the public-private partnership scheme, the operations and maintenance of the airport. In September 2017, Ayala Land is set to build its first industrial estate outside Luzon within the planned aerotropolis.

Structure

Passenger terminal

The airport has a passenger terminal building that can accommodate 1.6 million passengers a year. The airport can accommodate 2,000 passengers a day.

Runway

The airport has a single runway which can accommodate four takeoffs and landings an hour. The runway is equipped with an instrument landing system, making it capable of night landings.

Airlines and destinations

Flight information screen - Laguindingan International Airport

Statistics

Data from Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). ;Notes

Gallery

References

External links

Laguindingan International Airport – Official Website

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines – Official Website
{{authority control 2013 establishments in the Philippines Airports established in 2013 Airports in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Misamis Oriental Cagayan de Oro