Ernajos Strip

While no official reason has been published, the closure is consistent with economic factors common to small, private airfields. It was likely closed due to the cessation of the private/agricultural operations it supported, making it no longer economically viable to maintain. The high value of the land for agriculture probably contributed to the decision to convert it back to farmland.

The site of the former Ernajos Strip has been completely converted back into agricultural land. High-resolution satellite imagery shows the area is now comprised of active rice paddies and other cultivated fields. The faint, straight-line outline of the former north-south runway is still discernible from the air due to slight variations in the soil and field patterns, but there are no remaining aviation infrastructures such as hangars, buildings, or a paved surface. The land is fully integrated into the surrounding farmland.

Ernajos Strip was a small, private grass or dirt runway. Its ICAO designator (PH-0186) indicates it was officially registered with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines at one time. Given its location in the heart of an agricultural region in Pangasinan, its primary purpose was almost certainly to support agricultural aviation. Operations would have involved light aircraft, such as crop dusters (e.g., Piper Pawnee, Cessna Ag-Wagon), used for spraying pesticides, fertilizers, and seeding on the surrounding rice fields and other croplands. Its significance was purely local, serving as a base for private agricultural flight operations likely owned or managed by the Ernajos family, after whom it was named.

There are no known or reported plans to reopen Ernajos Strip. The land has been fully reclaimed for agricultural use for over a decade, making any restoration effort a significant and costly undertaking. The demand for such a small, private airstrip in that specific location has likely been met by other means, or the original economic drivers for its existence are no longer present. It is considered permanently closed.