The P5.6 billion new Bacolod-Silay Airport will open on Jan. 18 and the old airport in Bacolod City that began operations in 1936 will close down after the last flight out on Jan. 17, Edgar Mangalili, Department of Transportation and Communication airport project director, said yesterday.

Expected to attend the inauguration of the new airport of international standards in Silay City is Vice President Noli de Castro, DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo (Pampanga, 2 nd district) , Vice Gov. Isidro Zayco said.

The first flight into the new airport on Jan 18 will be Cebu Pacific from Manila that will arrive at 5:10 a.m. , followed by Philippines Airlines at 6:40 a.m. and Air Philippines as 7:20 a.m. , Mangalili told the DAILY STAR.

The inaugural rites that will include the cutting of a ribbon and the unveiling of a marker will be at 9 a.m. , he added.

Paving of the McKinley road to the airport in Silay has been completed, Mangalili said.

Antonio Alfonso, Air Transportation Office - Bacolod manager, said the Bacolod airport will be shut down on Jan. 17, it cannot be retained because of its proximity to the Silay airport that is within the prohibited distance set by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

The navigational equipment of the old airport will be distributed to government owned airports in need of them, he said.

Meanwhile, all ATO personnel will be transferred to the airport in Silay. The ATO approved workforce for the new airport is 150, including security personnel, he said.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has been tasked to approve applicants for a shuttle system to the new airport at affordable rates, he said.

Negros historian Modesto Sa-onoy said the Bacolod airport was built 1936 by the Lopez family to service the Iloilo Negros Air Express Co. flights to Bacolod , Manila and Iloilo .

After World War II it was purchased by Philippine Airlines, he said.

The government extension to the privately owned Bacolod airport was constructed over the years to accommodate larger airplanes, Sa-onoy said.

Out of the 37.5 hectares comprising the current Bacolod airport, 20 hectares belongs to PAL and 17.5 hectares to the national government.

The Bacolod airport has since seen the arrival of Pope John Paul II in February 1981, heads of states and dignitaries, celebrities, including Hollywood stars, to Negros Occidental, Sa-onoy said.

Job Lamela, PAL Bacolod manager, said the 39 PAL employees, are ready to transfer to the new airport when it opens.

PAL began flights to the Bacolod airport in 1954.

In the present Bacolod airport, PAL flies in 15,000 passengers a month, Lamela said.

He said the new airport will be good for passengers because it has new and modern flight navigational equipment and better terminal facilities.*CPG

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