Bacolod–Silay International Airport , is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

serving the general area of Metro Bacolod, located in the Negros Island Region of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The airport is located northeast of

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; ; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Negros Island Region in the Philippines. With a total of 600,783 inhabitants as of the 2020 census, it is th ...

on a site in Barangay Bagtic, Silay,

Negros Occidental Negros Occidental (; ), officially the Province of Negros Occidental (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Negros, Negros Island. Its capital is the city of Bacolod, of which it is geographically s ...

. The facility inherited its IATA and ICAO airport codes from Bacolod City Domestic Airport, which it replaced in 2008. Capable of handling international air traffic, the airport is the busier of the two major airports serving

Negros Island Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral T ...

, the other being Dumaguete Sibulan Airport in Sibulan, Negros Oriental. Despite being billed as an international airport, Bacolod–Silay is designated as a Class 1 Principal

domestic airport A domestic airport is an airport that handles only flights within the same country. Domestic airports do not have customs and immigration facilities and so cannot handle flights to or from a foreign airport. These airports often have short r ...

by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, a body of the Department of Transportation that is responsible for the operations of not only this airport but also of all other public airports in the Philippines except the major international airports.

History

The site of Bacolod–Silay Airport was one of the main airfields for the

Imperial Japanese Army Air Service The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF; ) was the Military aviation, aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). Its primary mission was to provide tactical close air support for ground ...

(IJAAS) bombers and fighters in Negros. It was captured by American forces in 1944 and 1945. After the war, parts of the airfield became a sugarcane plantation. Planning for a new airport for Bacolod commenced in 1997, when the

Japan International Cooperation Agency The Japan International Cooperation Agency (), also known as JICA'','' is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social gr ...

initiated a study indicating the need for expansion at four Philippine airports: namely Bacolod City Domestic Airport, Mandurriao Airport in

Iloilo City Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region of the Philippines, located on the southeastern coast of th ...

, Legazpi Airport in Legazpi and Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in

Tacloban Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city on Leyte island in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, Tacloban has a popu ...

. In February 1999, another JICA study was commissioned, this time on the detailed plan of the new airport. The study was completed by March 2000 and was funded by a 430 million- yen grant. Immediately after the completion of the study, JICA hired Pacific Consultants International as advisers to the project. The project was opened for

bidding Bidding is an offer (often competitive) to set a price tag by an individual or business for a product or service ''or'' a demand that something be done. Bidding is used to determine the cost or value of something. Bidding can be performed b ...

on August 25, 2003, with the winning bid going to the Takenaka–

Itochu is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo, Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo. It is one of the largest Japanese ''sogo shosha'' (general trading and investment companies) distinguished by the strength of its textil ...

Joint Venture (TIJV). Physical construction on the new 4.3 billion-

peso The peso is the monetary unit of several Hispanophone, Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, as well as the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries of the Americas, the symbol com ...

airport, funded in part by an 8.2 billion yen loan, commenced in August 2004. A 900-day deadline was imposed for the airport to be completed, which broadly corresponded to January 2007. During construction, remains of the Japanese airfield and some war aircraft wrecks were dug. On July 13, 2007, President

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal-Arroyo (; born April 5, 1947), often referred to as PGMA or GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician who served as the 14th president of the Philippines from Presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 2001 to 2010 ...

attended the facility's inauguration. The airport was considered complete by July 16, but there was "considerable debate" over whether the airport should be opened for regular commercial traffic due to the runway extension, necessary for accommodating larger aircraft, not having been built by that time. The first aircraft ever to land at the airport was a small fourteen-seater turboprop owned by Vincent Aviation. The Reims-Cessna F406 with

aircraft registration An aircraft registration is a code unique to a single aircraft, required by international convention to be marked on the exterior of every civil aircraft. The registration indicates the aircraft's country of registration, and functions much li ...

number ZK-VAF, piloted by Steve Gray of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

landed at the airport on September 26, 2007, at 9:55 a.m. The airport commenced regular commercial operations and was officially opened on January 18, 2008. The first commercial flight to arrive was Cebu Pacific's Flight 5J 473 from

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, an Airbus A319-100 piloted by Silay native Captain Allan Garces which landed at 5:22 a.m. PST on the day of opening. The first international flight to arrive at the airport was a chartered plane from

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

which landed at 10:58 a.m. on January 2, 2009 carrying eight passengers and eight crew members. Zest Air chartered international flights to and from

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

using the

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

from January 7 to February 22, 2012, and also used to serve the route seasonally for

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n golfers. This seasonal route was also operated by

Philippine Airlines Philippine Airlines (PAL) is the flag carrier of the Philippines. Headquartered at the Philippine National Bank, PNB Financial Center in Pasay, the airline was founded in 1941 and is the oldest operating commercial airline in Asia. Philippine ...

utilizing the

Airbus A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body, commercial passenger Twinjet, twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was ...

from December 24, 2015, to February 21, 2016, offering flights to tourists, non-golfers, and the local flying public. By late 2014, the airport has been equipped with customs, immigration and quarantine booths in preparation for the increase in international arrivals. Since October 2015, the Bureau of Immigration has also indicated readiness to deploy personnel at the airport should regularly scheduled international flights commence, but as of 2023, there are no regularly scheduled international flights operating to and from the airport.

Structure

Runway

The Bacolod–Silay Airport has one primary runway, which is wide and long. The runway runs in a direction of 03°/21° and can currently handle aircraft as large as the

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

. Provisions for a expansion of the present runway in order to accommodate even larger aircraft were confirmed on May 23, 2009, when it was reported that the budget for the construction of the 500-meter extension of the runway has been approved by the Philippine government and bidding and construction was slated to start in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2009, but it has not been expanded yet. The airport is equipped with an instrument landing system (ILS), making it capable of handling night and low-visibility landings.

Passenger terminal

The entire airport complex is designed to handle an excess of one million passengers and of cargo annually and consists of 21 buildings with a total floor space of . The largest building in the complex is the main passenger terminal with three levels. The ground floor holds the check-in counters, the public concourse, the arrival area and the information counter. The second floor has the three pre-departure areas with their VIP and CIP lounges; these pre-departure areas lead out to three

jet bridge A jet bridge is an enclosed connector which most commonly extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane, and in some instances from a port to a boat or ship, allowing passengers to board and disembark without heading outside and being exp ...

s at an apron that can handle up to five aircraft simultaneously.

also operates a Mabuhay Lounge for the use of its business class passengers on the second floor. Also on the second floor are Merci Pasalubong Shop and Bong-Bong's Pasalubong Shop, occupying the spot of the former Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines office since it transferred to the Administration Building. On the third floor is the viewing deck with a concession area and rooms for maintenance and airport machinery. The state-of-the-art main passenger terminal is equipped with a flight information display system, mechanized baggage handling systems for both inbound and outbound baggage, numerous security x-ray machines, and elevators, and escalators. Outside the main building is a parking lot which can accommodate up to 350 cars.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

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

Accidents and incidents

* On December 27th, 2024 PAL Express Flight 2P-2285, a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400, skidded off Runway 03 during heavy rainfall. All passengers and crew were unharmed

Ground transportation

Airport transportation is accessible to passengers travelling in or out of the airport from Bacolod. There are multiple Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs) that offer shuttle services. There are also tricycles outside the airport that provide transportation to nearby destinations in Silay. The new access road connecting the airport and

is completed and is now accessible to vehicles. It connects to Barangay Bata in Bacolod.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacolod-Silay Airport Airports in the Philippines Airports established in 2008 Metro Bacolod Buildings and structures in Silay Transportation in the Visayas Itochu