Porac Airfield

Natural Disaster. The primary reason for the closure was the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo. The airfield, located in close proximity to the volcano, was buried under meters of heavy, wet volcanic ash (tephra) and subsequently inundated by destructive lahars (volcanic mudflows). This event completely obliterated the runway and any associated infrastructure, making it permanently unusable.

The site of the former airfield has been completely transformed and is now an extensive sand and gravel quarry. The massive lahar deposits from the Pinatubo eruption created a vast and valuable source of high-quality construction materials. Decades of quarrying have erased any trace of the original airfield, and the landscape is now characterized by large-scale excavation pits, haul roads for heavy trucks, and sand processing facilities. The area's economy shifted from agriculture to quarrying after the disaster.

Porac Airfield was a small, private airstrip primarily serving the local community before the eruption. Its operations were likely focused on general aviation, including agricultural aviation (crop dusting) for the surrounding sugarcane plantations and other farmlands, which were a major part of the Pampanga economy. It may have also been used for private transportation by local business owners or affluent landowners. It held no major military or commercial significance and was a simple, likely unpaved or grass, facility supporting the pre-eruption agricultural and private activities of the region.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the airfield. Reopening is considered infeasible for several reasons: 1) The site's terrain has been fundamentally and permanently altered by decades of quarrying. 2) The economic value of the land is currently derived from quarrying operations. 3) The proximity to the large, modern, and continuously expanding Clark International Airport (CRK) makes a small, local airfield in Porac redundant for regional transportation and aviation needs.