Basco Airport is an airport serving the province of Batanes in the Philippines. It is located in the provincial capital, Basco. It is one of two airports in the Batanes Islands, the other being Itbayat Airport.
The airport is classified as a Class 2 principal (minor) domestic airport by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), a body of the Department of Transportation that is responsible for the operations of non-major airports.
The airport is one of the hubs of Sky Pasada, a local carrier that flies short-haul routes between Basco and select airports in Northern Luzon.
Although the airport in the past was briefly served by international flights, the airport is not officially classified as an international airport.
History Basco Airport was first built in 1930 as Batan Airfield. During the Second World War, it became a target of Japanese forces during their invasion of the Philippines, seizing it along with the whole island on the first day of the Pacific War on 8 December 1941. Subsequently, the airfield was bombed by American planes in the closing months of the war in 1945, but the Japanese managed to hold on to it until their official surrender.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
Data from Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines
Passenger movements Year Domestic Change 2003 26,065 2004 26,933 3.33% 2005 25,376 5.78% 2006 22,748 10.36% 2007 19,550 14.06% 2008 24,288 24.24% 2009 19,308 20.50% 2010 26,089 35.12% 2011 28,428 8.97% 2012 25,588 9.99% 2013 32,467 26.88% 2014 60,683 86.91% 2015 73,541 21.19% 2016 82,853 12.66% 2017 104,089 25.63%
Aircraft movements
Year Domestic Change 2003 3,322 2004 2,734 17.70% 2005 3,240 18.51% 2006 2,726 15.86% 2007 1,204 55.83% 2008 766 36.38% 2009 1,246 62.66% 2010 709 43.10% 2011 1,926 171.65% 2012 1,934 0.42% 2013 2,512 29.89% 2014 1,890 24.76% 2015 2,160 14.29% 2016 2,538 17.50% 2017 2,702 6.46%
Cargo movements
Year Domestic (kg) Change 2003 247,978 2004 280,210 13.00% 2005 346,017 23.48% 2006 378,055 9.26% 2007 344,832 8.79% 2008 301,968 12.43% 2009 10,980 96.36% 2010 386,512 3,420.15% 2011 388,150 0.42% 2012 361,389 6.89% 2013 510,172 41.17% 2014 701,712 37.54% 2015 866,985 23.55% 2016 1,122,039 29.42% 2017 1,299,048 15.78%
See also List of airports in the Philippines
Notes
References