Iloilo Int'l Airport rehabilitation now 60% complete —CAAP

The rehabilitation of the Iloilo International Airport is now 60% complete and is expected to be finished by the second quarter of the year, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said on Wednesday. 

“Yes po, sir, tama po iyan. We are happy to announce po na 60% complete na po ang rehabilitation ng Iloilo International Airport,” said CAAP public information officer Bea Bernardo in “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.” 

(Yes, sir, that is correct. We are happy to announce that the rehabilitation of Iloilo International Airport is now 60% complete.) 

“Ilan nga po sa natapos na project natin diyan ay iyong installation ng apat na escalator, paglalagay ng flight information display system, iyong mga repairs po ng baggage handling system natin ay tapos na din po and then nag-add din po tayo ng mga bagong gang chairs at mga trolleys,” she added. 

(Some of the projects we have finished there include the installation of four escalators, the setup of the flight information display system, and the repairs to our baggage handling system; we also added new gang chairs and trolleys.) 

Following the rehabilitation, the CAAP said that it would begin the expansion of the airport’s passenger terminal building to accommodate more passengers. 

“Ang rehabilitation po sa Iloilo airport ay inaasahang matatapos po sa second quarter po ng taon. After po nito ay sisimulan na po natin agad iyong expansion ng passenger terminal building po natin. Target pong magsimula sa second quarter din po ng taon at matatapos po hopefully next year,” said Bernardo. 

(The rehabilitation of the Iloilo airport is expected to be finished by the second quarter of the year. After this, we will immediately begin the expansion of our passenger terminal building. We target to start that in the second quarter of the year as well, and hopefully, it will be finished by next year.) 

“Once na natapos po iyong passenger terminal building expansion natin inaasahan po na mas dadami pa iyong seating capacity ng airport – for domestic po magiging 10,000 na iyong seating capacity; for international flights naman po ay magiging 500 na po iyong seating capacity nito.” 

(Once our passenger terminal building expansion is complete, we expect the airport's seating capacity to increase further—for domestic, the seating capacity will become 10,000; for international flights, the seating capacity will become 500.) 

Bicol International Airport 

Further, CAAP said that it has an allocated budget to work on the transmission lines by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) that are obstructing the runway of Bicol International Airport. 

“Para po sa taong 2026 ang allocated budget po na nakalaan sa project po na iyan ay 150 million galing po sa CAAP at 150 million din naman po galing sa DOTr,” said Bernardo. 

(For the year 2026, the allocated budget set aside for that project is 150 million from CAAP and another 150 million from the DOTr.) 

“Ang obstruction po kasi doon ay nasa end po ng runway kaya po gagamitin po natin iyong budget to lower iyong transmission lines at lahat po ng kakailanganin dito po,” she added. 

(The obstruction there is located at the end of the runway, so we will use the budget to lower the transmission lines and for everything else that will be required for this.) —LDF, GMA Integrated News