DOTC: Navigational aids at Laguindingan will bring direct foreign flights to Mindanao

Foreign airlines will soon be flying directly to Mindanao with the installation of additional navigational aids at the brand-new Laguindingan International Airport in Misamis Oriental, the head of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said Monday.

The airport is expected to start operations on June 15. The opening was originally set for April 30, but the government postponed it to avoid disrupting passengers’ summer travel plans.

According to Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, navigational aids such as an instrument landing system (ILS) will be installed at the P7.8-billion airport by May next year.

“We believe that this would make the airport more appealing to foreign air transport companies and we hope that this would translate to foreign airlines flying directly to Mindanao by next year,” he said.

The government previously announced that the airport would be temporarily operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) using Visual Flight Rules (VFR) until the air navigation equipment is fully in place.

In postponing the airport's opening by a month and a half, the DOTC said it “took stock of the assessment of both CAAP and the airline companies that the Laguindingan Airport is already a safer alternative” to another Misamis Oriental airport, Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro City. — BM, GMA News