Laguindingan to accommodate flights from Seoul, Busan soon

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental is slated to accommodate international flights from South Korea by the last quarter of this year, boosting Korean presence currently dominating tourist arrivals in Northern Mindanao.

Speaking during the 65th Charter Day celebration in Ozamiz City recently, Department of Tourism in Region 10 (DOT-10) 10 Regional Director Catalino E. Chan III reported that the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) is set to authorize flights coming from both Seoul and Busan in South Korea to Laguindingan Airport.

When Laguindingan Airport was built in 2007, it was configured for international standards. But when it opened in 2013, it was only able to accommodate domestic flights with CAAP classifying it as "Principal Domestic Airport Class I."

Laguindingan Airport sits on a 4.17 square kilometer site in Barangay Moog, Laguindingan, and is located 46 kilometers away from Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental, and 57 kilometers from Iligan, Lanao del Norte.

The airport opened on June 15, 2013, which replaced Lumbia Airport in Barangay Lumbia, Cagayan de Oro, which currently serves as a military airbase for the Philippine Air Force.

The airport complex features a single 2,100 x 45 meter runway, which can accommodate four plane landings and takeoffs an hour. It also features a 7,184 square meter passenger terminal building, which can accommodate 2,000 passengers a day or 1.6 million passengers a year.

In 2014, a total of 462,825 incoming passengers passed through Laguindingan Airport, disembarking from 6,200 incoming flights.

However, converting Laguindingan from a domestic airport to an international gateway was slow. It was only in March, this year, that it accommodated night flights after navigational equipment was fully installed. As of now, the latest flights that arrive and leave the airport are at 9:30 p.m.

Despite these, Chan said he constantly lobbied with CAAP to push for the South Korean international flights, citing the large South Korean presence in Northern Mindanao.

Koreans rank second among foreign arrivals here with Americans on top in 2014.

With Laguindingan's hosting of international flights, it would become the 12th international airport in the country.