By Ariel Fernandez
Transportation and aviation officials inaugurated on Thursday the San Vicente Airport (SVA) in Palawan, a P62.7-million project that began construction in 2009.
San Vicente Airport (Philippine Information Agency - Palawan Official Facebook account/ MANILA BULLETIN)
Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur P. Tugade led the ceremony for the opening of the new airport in Palawan that is expected to help boost the country’s first Flagship Tourism Enterprise Zone.
The SVA was officially opened to light aircraft on June 22 2017, while charter flights from Air Juan was launched in August 2017.
After yesterday’s inauguration, the SVA will begin to cater to commercial flights, providing more access to various tourist destinations in Palawan.
The completion of the airport is a welcome development for Palawan 1st District Representative Franz Alvarez, Governor Jose Alvarez, and San Vicente Mayor Maria Carmela Alvarez, who were onhand during the inauguration, along with DOTr Undersecretary for Aviation and Airports Manuel Antonio Tamayo, DOTr Undersecretary for Administration and Finance Gary De Guzman, and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Director General Jim Sydiongco.
Started in 2006, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced the construction of a new airport in San Vicente to jumpstart tourism development not only in San Vicente, but in other parts of Northern Palawan.
Seen as the country’s first Flagship Tourism Enterprise Zone, the booming town of San Vicente, a first-class municipality, is home to the longest white beach in the Philippines, known as Long Beach, which boasts a stretch of 14 kilometers spanning to the coastline of four barangays.