Dipolog Airport

Airport in Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines

Dipolog Airport is the main airport serving the general area of Dipolog, the capital city of Zamboanga del Norte, in the Philippines. The airport is one of the busiest in Mindanao, especially considering its classification. It is classified as a Class 1 principal (major domestic) by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), a body of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) responsible for the operations of airports in the Philippines except the major international ones. In 2005, the airport handled 75,751 passengers. Its passenger traffic has grown at least 52% from year 2000 statistical figures with an average annual growth rate of around 10.4%.

During the incumbency of Matias C. Ranillo Sr. as Governor of Zamboanga peninsula in 1937 1941, President Manuel Quezon and his daughters Zenaida and Aurora "Baby", were invited to inaugurate the opening of the first bridge linking Dipolog to nearby Dapitan in 1939. The bridge stands to this day as the Quezon Bridge. The macadam airstrip was opened in October 1941, a few months before the outbreak of World War II, by then Vice President Sergio Osmeña and Chief of Staff Basilio Valdez. They inaugurated the airport on a flight on board a Douglas DC 2 of the Philippine Army Air Corps (PAAC). They were welcomed by Governor Matias C. Ranillo, Sr. but the entourage promptly proceeded to Dipolog Cathedral for a thanksgiving mass since the plane almost crashed at landing. Father Nicasio Yebes Patangan was the officiating priest.

The original terminal was made of composite wood material at the northern side of the runway near the Philippine Constabulary Camp, now Camp Hamac in Sicayab. During World War II, the field was overrun by rank grass. It was still used by Col. Hipolito Garma's guerrilla 105th Division, as a re supply base for Wendell Fertig's guerrillas and as an emergency landing field. In October 1944, Governor Ranillo led the Dipolognons to clear the runway at the request of the Filipino guerrilla forces. By March 8, four divisions of 16 Vought F4U Corsair US Marine fighter bombers and the 13th US Air Force established base as part of the Victor IV liberation plan. They covered the landing of the 41st Infantry Division in Zamboanga on D day scheduled on March 10. In 1992, after extending its runway by and constructing a control tower, Dipolog Airport officially welcomed its first mid size passenger jet, a Philippine Airlines Boeing 737 300. The same year, daily flights to Dumaguete were introduced by PAL using Short 360 aircraft but were dropped one year later. In 2002, at least 25% of the passenger traffic bound for Dipolog Airport was composed of foreign tourists. In July 2006, Cebu Pacific launched non stop service to Manila using an Airbus A319 with a seating capacity of 150 passengers. In December 2006, it registered a maximum traffic of 330 daily passengers on several occasions based on the aircraft's available capacity serving the route with Philippine Airlines using the much bigger Boeing 737 400 with a seating capacity of 180 passengers. The airport was expected to handle more than 150,000 passengers per year by 2009 or an average of 415 daily passengers, which is equivalent to three narrow body aircraft flights or two flights using one wide body and one narrow body aircraft. During the incumbency of former Mayor Evelyn Uy, the City Government built a bridge and an access road to Barangay Barra cutting travel time to and from the City's Business District.

In 2018, the Department of Transportation (DOTr), through Secretary Arthur Tugade, planned to upgrade Dipolog Airport, and other local Philippine airports to handle evening flights.

The airport has one terminal and a apron. The apron is capable of supporting two Airbus A320s and three large general aviation planes simultaneously. There are plans to expand the apron to accommodate bigger aircraft. The terminal building, which originally had a capacity of 170 passengers, now has a seating capacity of 300 passengers due to new flights offered by Cebu Pacific. The terminal houses a metal detector and an X ray machine for fast security check in of passengers and their baggage.

The airport has a modern control tower, a Category V fire station with four firetrucks and a new parking area complex near the Miss Universe Garden. The new parking area would have a capacity of 100 vehicles when completed by the end of the year. The old parking area, which had a capacity of ninety vehicles, was partially converted into a security buffer zone, to address probable terrorist threats. Forty slots of the old parking area were made part of the new parking area. The city government is expanding again the parking area to accommodate the additional passenger traffic toward the vicinity of the Miss Universe Garden. There is a mini garden at the runway side of the terminal that contains a grotto. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) had put up the Heroes' Lounge for use of members and retirees of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines Medal of Valor and Philippine National Police Medal of Valor awardees, together with their families. Dipolog Airport is one of the 24 airports in the Philippines to have a lounge dedicated to uniformed personnel and family members.

The Dipolog Airport upgrading project was part of the 1997 Third Airport Development Project, a six airport package that was supposed to be funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the Philippine government with its counterpart fund. However, the Philippine government failed to provide on the counterpart fund for the $93 million project. The ADB loan was cancelled effective May 31, 2003.

DOTC repackaged the project in 2005 into the Southern Philippines Airport Development Project for funding. By 2006, ADB reconsidered Dipolog Airport as one of only three of the six airport projects to be considered for funding based on the request of airline companies operating on the approved facilities, commercial viability, and passenger traffic.