BCDA eyes commercial flights at La Union airport

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is accelerating plans to upgrade its airport in La Union into a commercial gateway, as part of efforts to drive tourism in the north.

BCDA president and CEO Joshua Bingcang said the state agency aims to make the airport at Poro Point capable of handling commercial flights by 2027.

The facility is a former US military air base in San Fernando, La Union.

To support this, BCDA is allocating P250 million to build a new passenger terminal roughly twice the size of the existing facility.

BCDA had earlier indicated a target size of about 10,000 square meters for the new terminal.

This amount includes P50 million for upgrades to the airport’s ancillary facilities.

Bingcang said BCDA is also in talks with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines on runway improvements. This would enable the airport to accommodate Airbus A320 aircraft.

Construction is expected to begin this year.

Once operational, Bingcang said the Poro Point airport may be “bundled” with another BCDA-run gateway in Clark, citing proximity and tourism potential.

“Clark is landlocked. So, the foreigners, instead of going to the south, they can go to Poro Point,” Bingcang said, noting that the strategy was based on market studies conducted by BCDA.

For the San Fernando Seaport, Bingcang said the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center has shortlisted four international firms to prepare the master plan. These include one Dutch company.

BCDA intends to award the master plan by April and secure a PPP partner for port operations by the third quarter of 2027.

In 2025, BCDA subsidiary Poro Point Management Corp. took over operations of the San Fernando Seaport. This followed the expiration of the previous operator’s lease.

BCDA had earlier projected up to P80 million in revenues from the San Fernando Seaport.

For 2026, Bingcang said BCDA is targeting P10 billion in total revenues, mainly from leases and sales.