Iloilo International Airport
Iloilo International Airport, also known as Iloilo Airport, and as Cabatuan Airport, after the municipality of Cabatuan, Iloilo, where it is located, is the airport serving the province of Iloilo in the Philippines, including its capital city, Iloilo City, the regional center of the Western Visayas region. It opened its doors to commercial traffic on June 14, 2007, after a decade of planning and construction, replacing Mandurriao Airport in Mandurriao, Iloilo City, which had been in service for over seventy years. As a result, the new airport inherited its IATA and ICAO airport codes, as well as its position as the fourth-busiest airport in the Philippines, from its predecessor. It was the fifth-busiest airport in the Philippines in 2022. It is the first airport in both Western Visayas and the island of Panay to be built to international standards, and it is also considered to be the primary gateway into the region. It is classified as an international airport by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
The airport terminal building
By the 1990s, Mandurriao Airport was faced with a myriad of problems which warranted its eventual closure.
Officials from the Philippine Information Agency being briefed by airport project managers on progress of the airport's construction, 2006
Senator Franklin Drilon inspecting the construction, 2006
Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo, is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines, located on the southeastern coast of the island of Panay. It is the capital city of the province of Iloilo, where it is geographically situated and grouped under the Philippine Statistics Authority, but remains politically independent in terms of government and administration. In addition, it is the center of the Iloilo–Guimaras Metropolitan Area, as well as the regional center and primate city of the Western Visayas region. According to the 2020 census, Iloilo City has a population of 457,626 people. For the metropolitan area, the total population is 1,007,945 people.
Image: Mandurriao, Iloilo City skyline as of January 3, 2024
Image: Villanueva Building (Calle Real) in Iloilo City
Image: Molo Church vertical
Image: Newly renovated Jaro Belfry