Laguindingan Airport
The PhP7.85 billion Laguindingan Airport is the first airport in Northern Mindanao that serves the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, and Marawi, as well as the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon. Mindanao’s second-busiest airport (after Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City), it is classified as a Principal Domestic Airport Class 1 by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
This airport, sitting on a 4.17 sq. km. (1.61 sq. mi.) site, is 46 kms. (29 mi.) from Cagayan de Oro and 57 kms. (35 mi.) from Iligan City. it replaced both the old, worn-out Lumbia Airport (now Lumbia Airfield, a military air base for the Philippine Air Force) in Brgy. Lumbia, Cagayan de Oro and Maria Cristina Airport in Brgy. Maria Cristina, Iligan City.
Here is the historical timeline of the airport’s construction:
- On January 10, 2006, the Laguindingan Airport Development Project was inaugurated, with groundbreaking ceremonies presided by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
- By July 2007, the construction of the 4.4-km., 4-lane access road had started to connect the new airport to the national road.
- On August 30, 2007, the cost of the airport project (US$09 million or ₱7.853 billion) was duly approved by the National Economic and Development Authority Board.
- In early 2008, grading of the airport site area, 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 for the project), was
- On June 13, 2013, the airport was inaugurated by President Benigno Aquino III
- On June 15, two days after its inauguration, the airport was opened.
- In August 2013, the Project Development and Monitoring Facility Board approved the revision of the operations and maintenance of the airport.
- By December 2014, the installment of the Instrument Landing System and other equipment was completed.
- On March 12, 2015, the airport began to accommodate night flights and operating hours were increased, from the previous 6 AM –6 PM daily schedule, to 5 AM–9 PM.
- In September 2017, Ayala Land (which owns 183 of the 417 hectares of land acquired by the government to develop the airport complex), is set to build its first industrial estate outside Luzon within the planned aerotropolis around the airport.
- On October 20, 2017, Cebu Pacific made Laguindingan Airport its seventh hub, with its wholly owned subsidiary Cebgo adding flights to Caticlan and Dumaguete at the same time.
- On February 26, 2019, Aboitiz Infra Capital Inc. was granted by CAAP an Original Proponent Status (OPS) for its unsolicited proposal for the airport’s upgrade, expansion, operations, and maintenance.
One of two conveyor belts for baggage claim
The airport has a single 2,100 m. x 45 m. runway which can accommodate four takeoffs and landings an hour and features a cargo terminal that has a built up area of 350 sq. m.; a 46,150 sq. m. apron area for Code C/E aircraft (10,000 sq. m. for ATRs); 23 m. wide taxiway and facilities for general aviation and ground support facilities.
The 7,184 sq. m., 1.5-level very clean and modern passenger terminal building, overlooking the sea, can accommodate 2,000 passengers a day and 1.6 million passengers a year. It has 2 conveyor belts for baggage claim and two passenger boarding bridges.
Branches of Seattle’s Best Coffee and Kenny Rogers at the Pre-Departure Area
Its Pre-Departure Area, at the second floor, has branches of Kenny Rogers and Seattles Best Coffee. As of 2019, Laguindingan Airport was the 6th busiest airport in the country, with an estimate of 2,000,000 passengers passing through it.
Pre-Departure Area
It serves flights from Manila, Davao City, Cebu City, Iloilo City, Bacolod City and Zamboanga City through Cebu Pacific Air, Philippine Airlines or PAL Express and Air Asia.
One of two jet bridges service a PAL Express jet
Laguindingan Airport (IATA: CGY, ICAO: RPMY): Brgy. Moog, Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental. Open daily, 4 AM- 11 PM.
The fact is that this new airport – international at that, relied on by a region that is economically dynamic and vibrant – was opened prematurely, last April 30 2013, without runway lights and navigational equipment (radar and Instrument Landing System or ILS that would guide planes to land safely). There was miscalculation and human error, although some also attribute malice in the decision to open that airport despite the pleas of the business community of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities and the region. In open letters published last April 2013 in local and national papers, the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation (Oro Chamber), Iligan Chamber of Commerce Inc. (ICCI), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Northern Mindanao (PCCI-NM), Misamis Oriental Fil-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MOFCCCI), asked that the airport’s opening be deferred pending commissioning of the airport’s air navigation and support services facilities (ANSSF). The Regional Development Council (RDC), composed of local governments and regional offices of national agencies, supported this request.