CLARK FREEPORT – A total of 13 airports in the country are set to be night-rated by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) in the next three years.
Among the commercial airports to be night-rated for this year are the Cauayan Airport, Dipolog Airport, Sangley Airport, and Pagadian Airport.
Aside from these, the DOTr intends to night-rate two other airports in 2021 and seven more in 2022.
Scheduled for 2021 are San Jose (Mindoro) Airport and Bicol International Airport.
Airports to be night-rated in 2022 include Ozamiz Airport, Sanga-Sanga Airport, Calbayog Airport, Ormoc Airport, San Vicente Airport, Antique Airport, and Virac Airport.
“As of today, 22 out of 42 commercial airports are night-rated,” Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines director general Jim C. Sydiongco told aviation stakeholders during the Institutionalized Leveraging of Infrastructure Program for Airport Development or iLIPAD Conference 2020.
Night rating aims to increase operational efficiency of airports and reduce day-time flight congestion.
Sydiongco said this is in line with the current administration’s Build, Build, Build program which targets to decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Metro Manila as a whole.
Meanwhile, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo- Puyat announced during the forum that the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority has earmarked P1-billion funding for the night-rating capabilities of several commercially operated airports in the country.
