June 13, 2007
A dedication was held for a newly completed airport in the Filipino province of Iloilo, which is located on the country’s island of Panay. (One of this province’s widely used nicknames is “Heart of the Philippines”.) Iloilo International Airport was built in Cabatuan, a municipality that is 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of the province’s capital of Iloilo City. This airport replaced Mandurriao Airport, which was located in Iloilo City and had been in service for seven decades.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was president of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010, attended the inaugural festivities for Iloilo International Airport and took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for this facility. Other public officials on hand for this celebration included Niel Tupas Sr., governor of Iloilo between 2001 and 2010; and Leandro Mendoza, secretary of transportation and communications from 2002 to 2010.
Iloilo International Airport officially began operations the following day. The first commercial use of this airport involved an Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 plane that landed there after departing from Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila. Iloilo International Airport is one of the largest airports in the Philippines. In 2022, it was the country’s fifth busiest airport.
Photo Credit: George Parrilla (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)
Additional information on airports in the Philippines is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_the_Philippines
Transportation History 
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