Puerto Princesa International Airport
Puerto Princesa International Airport (; ) 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: After liberation of the Palawan in April 1945, a number US Army Air Forces units were stationed at the airport facility. These included: Post war. US Army  and Navy Engineers of the 1897th Engineer Aviation Battalion 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. As early of 1947, Puerto Princesa is opened for air travel. The first scheduled route, operated by Philippine Airlines (Philippine Air Lines), was from Manila to Puerto Princesa via San Jose, Mindoro and vice versa. The flight was scheduled during  Wednesdays utilizing the DC-3 aircraft. During the early 60's, Puerto Princesa catered its first direct flight from Manila using the Vickers Viscount aircraft also operated by Philippine Airlines. 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 March 2022, the old terminal is now operated by Philippine Air Force Tactical Operations Wing  West. 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. 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. Future Expansion. Phase 2 of the airport development includes expansion of the passenger terminal building, construction of a parallel taxiway, additional apron area and a runway extension . Statistics. Data from Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). Cargo movements. An em dash (—) is used when data from CAAP is not available.