Puerto Princesa International Airport

Puerto Princesa International Airport Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Puerto Princesa
IATA: PPS ICAO: RPVP
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines
Serves	Puerto Princesa
Location	San Miguel, Puerto Princesa, Palawan
Focus city for	Air Juan[1] Philippines AirAsia[2]
Elevation AMSL	22 m / 71 ft
Coordinates	09°44′31″N 118°45′32″E / 9.74194°N 118.75889°E / 9.74194; 118.75889Coordinates: 09°44′31″N 118°45′32″E / 9.74194°N 118.75889°E / 9.74194; 118.75889
Map
PPS/RPVP Location in the Philippines
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 09/27 2,601 8,560 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2018)
Passengers 2,146,350 19.90% Aircraft movements 20,087 26.84% Cargo (in kg) 16,968,071 0.23%
Source: eFOI[3]

Puerto Princesa International Airport (Filipino: Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Puerto Princesa; IATA: PPS, ICAO: RPVP) is an airport serving the general area of Puerto Princesa, located in the province of Palawan in the Philippines. It is classified as an international airport by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.

The airport is the main gateway to the Puerto Princesa Underground River, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

History[]

World War II[]

The airport was built by American POWs during the World War II from August 1942 to September 1944. It was used to accommodate large Japanese transport aircraft to complement the grass airstrip south of the present-day location of NCCC Mall Palawan in Lacao Street. The airstrip was constructed by hand by the POW using crushed corals for illuminating night landings. The finished airfield has an area of 7,200 ft by 675 ft with two runways.

On December 14, 1944, occupying Japanese soldiers herded 150 remaining American POWs who had constructed the air strip on Palawan Island (today's Puerto Princesa International Airport and Antonio Bautista Air Base) into air raid trenches, doused them with gasoline, set them afire, then machine-gunned and bayoneted them to death. Among them was Army Capt. Fred Bruni, the Palawan POWs’ senior officer, who was from Janesville, Wisconsin with the 192nd Tank Battalion. Only eleven men escaped the “Palawan Massacre” to be rescued by guerrillas. The story of their ordeal persuaded General Douglas MacArthur that the rumored order for the retreating Japanese to “kill all” prisoners was being implemented, thus his rush to liberate the Philippines.

Imperial Japanese Army Air Force units based there were:

• 2nd Air Division (September 1944 – Early 1945)
• 71st Sentai Squadron (September 1944 – Early 1945)

After liberation of the Palawan in April 1945, a number US Army Air Forces units were stationed at the airport facility. These included:

• Headquarters, XIII Fighter Command (1 March 1945 – November 1945)
• 42d Bombardment Group (March 1945 – January 1946)
• 347th Fighter Group (6 March – December 1945)
• 419th Night Fighter Squadron (6 March 1945 – 10 January 1946)
• 550th Night Fighter Squadron (DET) (9–19 June 1945)

Post war[]

US Army and Navy Engineers of the and the 84th Naval Construction Battalion immediately rehabilitated the facility and completed as a military airbase on March 18, 1945. The Army and Navy engineers further expand the airfield, strengthening the runway by laying steel Marston Mats and concrete, adding air control facilities and tanks to store oil and aviation fuel.

During the 1950s, President Ramon Magsaysay opened Puerto Princesa to air travel. The first scheduled route, operated by Philippine Airlines (Philippine Air Lines), was from Puerto Princesa to San Jose, Mindoro and vice versa. By late 90s, Puerto Princesa Airport welcomed its first wide-body aircraft service with Airbus A300 dubbed as the "Love Bus" operated by Philippine Airlines.

Fate of old terminal[]

The old terminal apron is utilized as an additional parking space for general aviation aircraft as well as large aircraft such as the Airbus A320. As of February 28, 2020, the old terminal is under renovation. It is not clear yet if what the renovation is for.

The Philippine Airlines ticketing office was relocated at the main city proper at Getan Square building.

Terminal and structures[]

New passenger terminal complex[]

To meet the growing air transportation demands of Puerto Princesa and the Province of Palawan, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) awarded the $82.9-million (P2.616 billion) contract to the Kumho Industrial Co. Ltd. GS Engineering & Construction Joint Venture (Kumho-GS), a South Korean company for the construction of new passenger terminal and cargo terminal building, a new apron with 6 aircraft bays (4 for narrow body and 2 for wide body aircraft as large as the Airbus A330, Airbus A350 and Boeing 787), connecting taxiways, new state-of-the-art air navigation system, and other support facilities in compliance with the international civil aviation standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The project was completed 30 months (approximately two years) from the groundbreaking rites.

The new passenger terminal complex has an upgraded handling capacity of 2 million passengers annually, with an estimated peak passenger flow of 690 passengers per hour. It was officially inaugurated on May 3, 2017 and opened for commercial operations on the next day, May 4, 2017.^[4]

Runway[]

The airport consists of a single 2,600 meter (8,530 ft.) x 45 m. (approx. 148 ft.) wide runway running at a direction 09°/27°. The airport shares its single runway with Antonio Bautista Air Base. The runway is equipped with an Instrument Landing System, runway lights, and approach landing lights making the airport capable of nighttime operations as well as low visibility landings.

Airport lounges[]

The airport consists of two major airport lounges.

• Mabuhay Lounge by Philippine Airlines^[5]
• PAGSS Lounge^[6]

Future Expansion[]

Phase 2 of the airport development (Approx. at 10th year) includes expansion of the passenger terminal building, construction of a parallel taxiway, additional apron area and a runway extension.^[7]

Statistics[]

Data from Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).^[8][3]

Passenger movements[]

Year	Domestic	International	Total	Change
2003	195,975	0	195,975
2004	271,769	161	271,930	38.76%
2005	267,778	0	267,778	1.53%
2006	284,110	0	284,110	6.10%
2007	392,039	0	392,039	37.99%
2008	444,878	0	444,878	13.48%
2009	584,186	0	584,186	31.31%
2010	807,916	0	807,916	38.30%
2011	988,972	0	988,972	22.41%
2012	1,322,925	0	1,322,925	33.77%
2013	1,357,531	12,894	1,370,425	3.59%
2014	1,371,651	6,929	1,378,580	0.60%
2015	1,564,914	26,804	1,591,718	15.46%
2016	1,612,640	31,363	1,644,003	3.28%
2017	1,767,157	22,958	1,790,115	8.89%
2018	2,046,628	99,722	2,146,350	19.90%

Aircraft movements[]

Year	Domestic	International	Total	Change
2003	3,346	0	3,346
2004	4,390	12	4,402	31.56%
2005	3,916	0	3,916	11.04%
2006	3,780	0	3,780	3.47%
2007	4,538	0	4,538	20.05%
2008	4,990	0	4,990	9.96%
2009	4,236	0	4,236	15.11%
2010	3,760	0	3,760	11.24%
2011	4,248	0	4,248	12.98%
2012	12,046	0	12,046	183.57%
2013	10,512	2,684	13,196	9.55%
2014	13,130	224	13,354	1.20%
2015	14,222	184	14,406	7.88%
2016	13,813	191	14,004	2.79%
2017	15,682	155	15,837	13.09%
2018	19,404	683	20,087	26.84%

Cargo movements[]

An em dash (—) is used when data from CAAP is not available.

Year	Domestic (in kg)	International (in kg)	Total (in kg)	Change
2003	5,001,051	0	5,001,051
2004	4,500,599	—	4,500,599	10.01%
2005	4,744,915	0	4,744,915	5.43%
2006	3,912,209	0	3,912,209	17.55%
2007	4,480,615	0	4,480,615	14.53%
2008	4,580,557	0	4,580,557	2.23%
2009	5,439,799	0	5,439,799	18.76%
2010	8,972,631	0	8,972,631	64.94%
2011	9,294,017	0	9,294,017	3.58%
2012	10,938,901	0	10,938,901	17.70%
2013	12,699,299	—	12,699,299	16.09%
2014	15,038,825	—	15,038,825	18.42%
2015	14,278,467	133,614	14,412,081	4.17%
2016	17,136,857	116,870	17,253,727	19.72%
2017	16,173,990	833,190	17,007,180	1.43%
2018	16,955,042	13,029	16,968,071	0.23%

Airlines and destinations[]

Due to the cancellation of flights following the COVID-19 pandemic, this list is no longer current and is subject to change without prior notice.^[9][10][11]

Airlines	Destinations
Air Juan	Busuanga, Cuyo, San Vicente, Sipalay, Taytay
AirSWIFT	Busuanga, El Nido
Cebu Pacific	Cebu, Clark, Hong Kong, Iloilo, Manila
Eastar Jet	Seoul–Incheon
PAL Express	Cebu, Clark, Manila
Philippine Airlines	Manila
Philippines AirAsia	Cebu, Clark, Manila
Royal Air Philippines	Cebu,[12] Clark
Tigerair Taiwan	Taipei–Taoyuan[13][14]

Accidents and incidents[]

• On January 11, 2011, a Cebu Pacific Airbus A319 registered as RP-C3190 with 129 passengers and 6 crews on board swerved off the runway upon landing after touchdown. Though the pilot maneuvered the aircraft back to the runway, the aircraft sustained substantial damage on its nose and main landing gear with other damages on the left and right engine fan blades, aircraft underbelly and underwings. No one on board was injured.^[15]
• On April 11, 2012, A departing Cebu Pacific Airbus A320 clipped the wingtip of a Zest Airways Airbus A320 while sitting on the apron around 6:30 p.m. The incident severed Zest Airways' navigation lights forcing the company to cancel their return flight to Manila. By the time of the incident, only Philippine Airlines offers push back vehicle to its aircraft so other airlines will have to do a 180 degree turn to taxi out of the apron. No one is injured during the incident.

Gallery[]

• 

  The New Terminal, as seen from the parking area.

• 

  Inside the departure hall.

• 

  The New Terminal, as seen from the apron.

• 

  The up-close look of the departure hall. The lighting design is inspired from the palm trees, which are common in Palawan.

• 

  The Old Terminal, located at the other side of the runway at Brgy. Bancao-bancao. It has been closed for air traffic since May 4, 2017.

See also[]

• List of airports in the Philippines
• Antonio Bautista Air Base

References[]

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Air Force website https://www.af.mil.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Puerto Princesa International Airport.