Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc. is quietly reshaping how Filipinos fly, building a web of mostly exclusive domestic routes that bypass Manila and stitch the islands closer together.
Through its three gateways—Mactan-Cebu International Airport, Bohol-Panglao International Airport, and Laguindingan International Airport—AIC now supports 29 domestic routes from Cebu, five from Bohol, and four from Laguindingan. Many are nonstop and served exclusively from its airports, giving airlines cleaner operations and passengers shorter travel times.
Key destinations include Iloilo, Bacolod, Tacloban, Puerto Princesa, El Nido, Busuanga, Siargao, Zamboanga, General Santos City, and Davao. Some routes, such as Siquijor via Sunlight Air, Calbayog via Philippine Airlines, and San Vicente, Palawan via Cebu Pacific, are directly and exclusively accessible through Cebu.
The strategy is simple but potent. Instead of funneling traffic through congested hubs in Manila, Clark, or Davao, AIC is betting on point-to-point connectivity between the Visayas, Mindanao, and secondary Luzon cities. For travelers, that means no backtracking. For local economies, it means faster tourism flows and smoother business links.
Cebu anchors the network. MCIA’s CEB Connect streamlines air-to-air transfers between domestic and international flights, while CEB+ will soon offer air-to-sea transfers to nearby islands via Mactan Wharf. The CEB Balik facility, designed for overseas Filipino workers, further positions Cebu as the main Visayas-Mindanao gateway.
The broader play is strategic decentralization. As the country’s largest airport operator outside Manila, AIC is leveraging coordinated route planning across its airports to build a self-reinforcing regional network.
In a market long dominated by the capital, Aboitiz’s airport push suggests the next growth runway may lie beyond it.
