Loakan Airport

Loakan Airport Paliparan ng Loakan Pagtayaban ti Loakan
IATA: BAG – ICAO: RPUB
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines
Serves	Baguio
Location	Barangay Loakan Proper, Baguio, Benguet
Elevation AMSL	1,296 m / 4,251 ft
Coordinates	16°22′30″N 120°37′10″E / 16.37500°N 120.61944°ECoordinates: 16°22′30″N 120°37′10″E / 16.37500°N 120.61944°E
Map
BAG/RPUB Location in the Philippines
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 09/27 1,802 5,912 Concrete
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 2,035 Aircraft movements 844 Metric tonnes of cargo 0
Statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.[1]

Loakan Airport (Filipino: Paliparan ng Loakan, Ilokano: Pagtayaban ti Loakan) (IATA: BAG, ICAO: RPUB) is an airport serving the general area of Baguio, located in the province of Benguet in the Philippines. The airport is classified as a Class 2 principal (minor domestic) airport by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). Loakan Airport, the city's only airport was built in 1934.^[2] The short runway, frequent low visibility and dilapidated structures along with deep ravines on both ends of the runway continue to challenge commercial operation at the airport.^[3]

Airlines and destinations

Asian Spirit NAMC YS-11 airliner, at Loakan Airport, Baguio City July, 2006.

Loakan Airport was formerly served by Philippine Airlines (PAL) beginning on March 15, 1941 with a single Beechcraft Model 18 NPC-54 on daily services between Manila (from Nielson Field) and Baguio. PAL suspended flights into Baguio in 1998 as part of a company downsizing. In the next year, commercial airline service into Baguio resumed with service from Asian Spirit Airlines, which later became Zest Airways. Commercial air service into Loakan Airport was again discontinued in 2012.

Incidents and accidents

• A Philippine Airlines DC-3 was lost on takeoff in 1952.^[4]
• On the morning of June 27, 1987, Philippine Airlines Flight 206 a Hawker Siddeley HS 748, bound for Baguio, crashed into the slopes of Mt. Ugo while attempting to land in a monsoon, killing all 50 people on board. A Philippine Air Force Bell UH-1 Huey was lost during recovery operations of that crash.^[5]
• A Philippine Air Force Cessna T-41 crashed right after takeoff on May 25, 2005. All four airmen died.^[6]
• On April 7, 2009, a Bell 412 presidential helicopter owned by the Philippine Air Force carrying eight key aides of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo crashed into the slopes of Mount Pulag in Tinoc, Ifugao while en route to Lagawe, the provincial capital of Ifugao, after they tried to land at Loakan Airport due to bad weather. All on board the ill-fated chopper died and Malacañang mourned their deaths. The key aides were checking the area for a planned visit by President Arroyo to inspect a mountain road project. Because of the disaster, she cancelled her trip. U.S. officials dispatched CH-46 Sea Knights to find the downed chopper.^[7][8]

See also

• List of airports in the Philippines

References

1. "Passenger Statistics 2014". July 23, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
2. Cabrega, Vincent. "In new plan, Baguio airport likely to take off again". http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/475847/in-new-plan-baguio-airport-likely-to-take-off-again. External link in |website= (help);
3. http://www.cityofpines.com/access.html
4. "Baguio Airport". Retrieved 16 May 2009.
5. "Mt. Ugo Mountaineering". Retrieved 16 May 2009.
6. "Baguio plane crash kills future combat pilots". Nordis Weekly May 29, 2005. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
7. Missing govt chopper supposed to return due to bad weather
8. No survivors in chopper crash

External links

• Official website of Baguio City
• Accident history for BAG / RPUB at Aviation Safety Network