“We are working towards improving and upgrading the physical facilities and infrastructure of Calbayog airport to make it capable of landing airbus flights,” Samar’s First District Representative Tan said.
“For this year, the airport management will work on a PhP30 million-peso budget for a 2.30-kilometer-long of perimeter fence and the installation of the runway lights for PhP80 million,” the Congressman added.
Calbayog City Airport’s present runway (where an aircraft can take-off and land) stretches to a total length of 2.1 kilometers and 45 meters wide of concrete and asphalt overlay.
Its new apron (where aircrafts are parked, loaded, unloaded and serviced) measures 180 meters by 87 meters wide with a taxiway of 150 meters long and 23 meters wide.
“An airbus needs 1.6 kilometers of runway that makes our 2.1-km-long runway capable to make an airbus land and fly,” Calbayog Airport Manager Carmelito Escuadra said and added that “completing the construction of the perimeter fence will secure and protect the multi-million-peso facilities and equipment of the airport from burglary and vandalism.
It was added that the installation of runway lights (particularly PAPI Lights) will all the more qualify our airport to accommodate airbus flights. These set of lights – precision approach path indicator (PAPI) - “are a set of lights positioned beside the runway which provide pilots with a visual indicator of their aircraft’s position relative to the correct glidepath for the runway.”
