New Iloilo Airport

The new airport of Iloilo (IATA: ILO, ICAO: RPVI) is located approximately 19 kilometers or 30 minutes from Iloilo City, specifically in Barangay Duyan-Duyan in the central town of Cabatuan. 3 airlines namely Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, and Air Philippines serve the New Iloilo Airport with regular trips to Manila and Cebu.

The main access road of the New Iloilo Airport lies in the town Santa Barbara, Metro Iloilo. From the City, the New Iloilo Airport can be accessed through private car or taxi. There is a shuttle service direct to the airport with pick-up points at SM City Iloilo, Mandurriao District and Jaro District Plaza (Iloilo City). Travellers can also ride Public Utility Jeeps or “Jeepneys” to access the New Iloilo Airport by riding a Calinog, Janiuay, Cabatuan, or Santa Barbara Jeepney and dropping off at the intersection in Santa Barbara called “Banga Gama” then riding a “Santa Barbara Poblacion - Airport multicab” which will take you directly to the New Iloilo Airport. From the New Iloilo Airport, visitors have the same option in going to the city.

The New Iloilo Airport was inaugurated on June 13, 2007 and opened to commercial flights on June 14, 2007. It was a replacement to the old Iloilo Domestic Airport in Mandurriao, which has served Iloilo for more than 50 years. The New Iloilo Airport was built to accommodate the rising number of air passenger and air cargo traffic in Iloilo and improve air transportation safety in compliance with international standards.

The New Iloilo Airport is the first to have modern, latest technology, belonging to Category F, as determined by the International Civil Aviation (ICA) Organization. This means that the New Iloilo Airport is accredited as a qualifier for international standards.

According to the Air Transportation Office, the inbound and outbound passenger traffic in the Iloilo Domestic Airport in Mandurriao reached 708,469 pax in 2005 making it the fourth busiest airport in the country next to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Manila), Mactan International Airport (Cebu), and Francisco Bangoy International Airport (Davao). In 2006, the passenger volume increased to 876,412 pax (not confirmed). Likewise cargo movement handled by the airport amounted to 10,314 metric tons which is also fourth highest recorded cargo movement among the airports in the Philippines.

The New Iloilo Airport has a 12,000-square meter main passenger terminal designed to handle around 1.2 million passengers annually. The terminal of the New Iloilo Airport, designed with complete separation for departing and arriving passengers, is touted as the most modern in the country during its completion with amenities such as:

• 10 check-in counters with LCD monitors and individual weighing and queuing conveyors
• Belt conveyor from the check in to the baggage loading area
• Flight information display system to guide passengers of the aircraft’s time schedule and destination, and a transit counter
• Close-circuit television for security and monitoring purposes



• Three units of passenger boarding bridges, which can stretch up to 35 meters when fully retracted. The boarding bridge is accessible via a separated gang-way (one each for departing and arriving passengers)



• 6 x-ray machines, Mabuhay lounges for departing passengers and VIP room, smoking rooms, concessionaire areas for shoppers, lost and found section, counters for hotel and car rental bookings, allocated public telephone booths and others
• Handicapped friendly, with railings, elevators, escalators and dedicated space for handicapped in the comfort rooms
• The pre-departure area is located at the third floor of the building, with at least 436 seating capacity
• The baggage claim area is located at the ground floor, accessible from the second floor with two units of 51 meters conveyor.
• There is also a separate section for the waiting public and well wishers at the arrival and departure concourse



• Automated doorways and toilet facilities



• Pocket Gardens installed at the terminal

The New Iloilo Airport’s Cargo Terminal has a floor area of 1,300-square meters and is designed to handle as much as 11,500 meteric tons. Parking will also not be a problem anymore as the vehicular parking area is designed with 414 slots for private cars, complete with tollbooth and a drivers’ lounge and rest rooms. Additionally, the New Iloilo Airport is a 188 hectare complex, large enough for future expansions as necessary.

Aesthetically, the New Iloilo Airport is considered by many as the best designed airport outside Metro Manila. The shape of its curved roof and steel beams that support it appear stylish and modern. The walls of the New Iloilo Airport are all-glass so passengers will have a nice view of planes flying in and out of the runway. The New Iloilo Airport’s roof is designed to let in light and make full use of natural lighting inside the terminal of the New Iloilo Airport, where pocket gardens similar to NAIA Terminal II are found.

The New Iloilo Airport is equipped with a 2.5 kilometer by 45 meter wide runway, which can accommodate Airbus 330 and 340 and Boeing 747 planes. The New Iloilo Airport can accommodate 6 planes at one time.

Other features of the airport include:

• 3 kilometer access road complete with landscaped center islands, adequate lighting, and drainage facilities



• 9-storey 35 meters structure control tower



• The mechanical building houses the chiller room, and water supply and pump room, while the cooling system for the whole airport is about 2,400kw, consisting of five units of chillers, each having a capacity of 600kw
• Entire electrical system of the airport can generate 2,500kVA supply of power, while the generator room is equipped with 4 units of 500kVA standby generator and automatically switch-on during power failure
• 2-storey Administration Building
• Maintenance Building
• Fire Rescue Stations with a fleet of Mercedes Benz firetrucks imported from Italy
• Runway lights and an Instrument Landing System have also been installed, making the airport capable of supporting landings during low visibility and at night, and runway designation designed to cater to even bad weather conditions
• Sewage Treatment Plant which can separate the liquid from solid waste, which is then processed into an organic material (fertilizer) for the plants. The liquid is recycled for watering purposes
• Material Recovery Facility (MRF) structure for the segregation of the solid waste collected in the airport

  (source: Philippine Information Agency)

Planning for the New Iloilo Airport project commenced in 1998, during the administration of Joseph Estrada. In November 1998, Estrada signed an executive order that created the Iloilo Airport Coordinating Committee, headed by Iloilo-born senator Franklin Drilon, one of the chief architects and supporters of the project.

The New Iloilo Airport project was inaugurated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on January 25, 2004 in Cabatuan, the primary site of the airport. The airport project was to be funded with a 6.2-billion peso loan as part of a loan package provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. It was decided that a new airport was needed for Iloilo City after it was found that Mandurriao Airport was unexpandable due to operational obstacles and the presence of structures that prohibited its expansion, such as slum areas and other natural and civic structures.

Physical construction work on the New Iloilo Airport started on April 14, 2004. The original expected deadline of completion was June 2007, although the expected deadline was moved to the first quarter of 2007. The Taisei Shimizu Joint Venture company was the contractor for the project, with Phil-Japan Airport Consultants, Inc. managing the project and serving as the government’s consultant to the project.[5] The project was 75 percent complete as of July 14, 2006, and was completed in March of 2007, ahead of schedule but over budget, with a final cost of around nine billion pesos. (source: Wikipedia)

As of the time of writing, the airport is not considered an international airport but only a domestic airport. It is important to note that an international airport can only be called as such if it is serviced by direct regular commercial international routes, which the airport does not have currently. Direct flights to Korea and China among other regional destinations are already being speculated but ultimately market forces and the airlines themselves will decide whether to have one.

Another big project being proposed is the revival of the Panay Railways which will hasten the travel time from Iloilo City to Roxas City and vice-versa. One component of the said project includes a spur line direct to the New Iloilo Airport. The completion of this spur line will significantly decrease the travel time from the New Iloilo Airport to the city.

Marcos C. posted this article on June 18, 2007; 3:00 pm. This article has had 10,723 views and 133 comments.
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• Category: Feature Updates
• Tags: Cabatuan, iloilo airport, iloilo airport of international standards, iloilo international airport, new iloilo airport, Santa Barbara, terminals, Transportation
  

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