ILOILO CITY — The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines Area 6 (CAAP-6) said that the Iloilo International Airport in Cabatuan town is ready to accommodate international flights.

"Our airport is ready to accept international flights, but we have not yet received any proposals from airline companies," said CAAP-6 manager Engr. Eusebio Monserate Jr.

Currently, the Iloilo airport serves seven domestic routes with an average of 20 flights per day.

It previously catered to international flights bound for Hong Kong and Singapore but was suspended in March 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Monserate recalled implementing a slotting mechanism when the Iloilo airport still accommodated international flights. This system allows CAAP, the airport operator, to schedule specific times for airlines to land or take off.

"The operation of the airport is 24 hours to avoid congestion. We are scheduling flights at times when there are no domestic arrivals," he said.

CAAP-6 also disclosed plans for several facility upgrades at the airport, funded by a P190 million budget from the national government's 2024 Aviation Transport Infrastructure Program.

The budget will be used to replace various facilities, including the two existing escalators, the elevator, the flight information display system, the fire detection and alarm system, and the gang chairs.

An additional 333 new passenger chairs will be added on top of the replacements to accommodate the influx of passengers. The Iloilo airport currently has a seating capacity of 720.

The budget will also fund the rehabilitation of the boarding bridge and the passenger terminal building, which received the largest portion of the budget in the upgrade plan.

Regarding the air conditioning system, three new chillers from Japan are expected to arrive before the end of June 2024, increasing the number of chiller systems from five to seven.

Monserate said technical engineers from CAAP have already inspected the new chiller system in Japan.

"The inspection is about the equipment. The group is composed of engineers from Iloilo and Manila. They went to Japan to inspect the equipment before delivering it here," he said.

Monserate emphasized the importance of upgrading the Iloilo airport, pointing out that many of its facilities were installed in 2005, two years before the airport's official commissioning in 2007.