Francisco Bangoy International Airport , also commonly known as Davao International Airport, is the main airport serving Davao City and Davao Region in the Philippines. It is the busiest airport on the island of Mindanao and the third busiest in the Philippines in 2022.
History
Early history
The site of the airport began operations in the 1940s as Sasa Landing Field with a donation of land in barangay Sasa, located in Buhangin district of Davao City, by Don Francisco Bangoy, the then-current patriarch of an influential family that founded and settled in Davao alongside Don Jose Uyanguren. At the time it began operation, the airport merely consisted of a unpaved grass runway and quonset huts serving as terminal buildings. At the time, and throughout much of the 1940s and the early 1950s, both Philippine Air Lines and the Philippine Air Force provided air service to the city.
As a civil aviation airport
The Davao (Sasa) Airport was opened for civil aviation on August 25, 1958. It initially consisted of a new long by wide concrete runway and a long by wide apron. The grass airstrip was later converted as a taxiway for general aviation.
By 1959, the complex consisted of a small control tower and several low-rise buildings. On June 19, 1960, Republic Act No. 2762 was enacted which renamed the airport to Francisco Bangoy Airport in honor of the late Don Francisco Bangoy. Right of way and access to the terminal buildings and the airport were improved through further donation of land by Paciano Bangoy, Francisco's son, during the latter stages of Paciano's gubernatorial term. In 1970, the runway was extended and widened to and , respectively, while the apron was widened to . Five years later, the runway was further extended and widened to and to the current , respectively.
A new terminal designed by Filipino architect Leandro Locsin, with a capacity of one million passengers, started construction in 1976 and was completed in 1980. The project, in addition to runway expansions, was funded during the term of then-Congressman Manuel Garcia, whose congressional district covers the airport perimeter. Airbus A300 operations by Philippine Airlines started on September 1, 1989, marking the first widebody service to the city. The first scheduled international passenger service started on April 29, 1992, with the inauguration of Bouraq Airlines flights to Manado, Indonesia. After the launch of scheduled international flights to Davao, regular flights to Malaysia and Singapore were also commenced by Malaysia Airlines in 1996 and SilkAir in 1997, respectively.
Expansion
Rapid growth at the airport precipitated the construction of a million interim international terminal beside the airport's then-existing terminal, and then eventually a new, larger terminal building that would consolidate the two existing terminals. In planning since 1992, construction began in 2000 and was subsequently inaugurated on December 2, 2003, with a capacity double that of the old airport terminal. The construction of the new ₱2.7 billion building was funded by both the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The modernization and upgrading of the airport facilities aim to make Davao as a hub for tourism and foreign investment in the region. Development was funded by a million loan from the ADB, co-financed by the EIB for twenty-five million ECUs, and through budgetary allocations from the government. The total cost of the project amounted to US$128 million.
As part of the modernization of the airport, the runway was once again extended to the current in 2001 to accommodate future international flights.
Contemporary history
On November 12, 2007, Cebu Pacific announced the airport as its third hub. Likewise, Philippine Airlines announced the airport as its third hub on March 26, 2018.
In June 2015, the Mindanao Development Authority plans to turn the 1980–2003 airport terminal into a trade and cultural museum.
Republic Act No. 11457, also known as the Charter of the Davao International Airport Authority, was approved on August 30, 2019, creating and establishing the Davao International Airport Authority, which will manage all airports in the Davao Region, including the Francisco Bangoy International Airport.
Future development
The airport was slated for upgrading in 2016, but the project was shelved. In 2017, an expansion project of the airport was announced. Udenna Corporation submitted an unsolicited proposal in 2018 and received the original proponent status by the Department of Transportation in that year.