Rizal, PH 🇵🇭 Closed Airport
PH-0596
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- ft
PH-PLW
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: 8.624722° N, 117.279444° E
Continent: AS
Type: Closed Airport
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The airport does not have an official, publicly recorded closure date. Analysis of historical satellite imagery indicates it was still in a usable condition around 2010 but had become significantly overgrown and unusable by 2016. This suggests a gradual abandonment and cessation of maintenance sometime in the early 2010s.
The closure was most likely due to economic and operational factors. As a private airstrip, its existence was tied to the industry it served. The likely reasons for its abandonment include:
1. **Reduced Need:** The company operating it may have shifted its transportation logistics to ground-based options as local road networks improved.
2. **High Maintenance Costs:** The cost of maintaining a runway, even an unpaved one, may have outweighed its benefits, leading to its decommissioning to cut operational expenses.
3. **Change in Corporate Operations:** A shift in the management or operational focus of the local industry (likely palm oil production) could have rendered the airstrip obsolete.
The gradual nature of its decline points away from a sudden event like an accident or government action.
The site is currently an abandoned airstrip. The ~1.2 kilometer runway is completely overgrown with grass and other vegetation, making it unusable for any aviation activity. Its straight path is still clearly visible from satellite imagery, cutting through the surrounding palm oil plantations. The land has not been repurposed for other construction, and the former runway may be used informally by local residents as a footpath or access road.
Latud Airport was a private, unpaved airstrip primarily built to support the large-scale agricultural operations in the remote municipality of Rizal, Palawan. Its main purpose was almost certainly logistical support for the vast palm oil plantations in the area, likely associated with Agumil Philippines Inc. (AGPI), which operates a major plantation and mill nearby. The airstrip would have been used for light aircraft to transport executives, key personnel, urgent supplies, and potentially for aerial surveying or crop-dusting. It was never a commercial airport and did not serve the general public with scheduled flights.
There are no known or published plans to reopen or redevelop Latud Airport. Given its remote location, its original private-industrial purpose, and the presence of more established airports in Palawan (such as Puerto Princesa International Airport and the newer San Vicente Airport), there is no current strategic or economic incentive for its revival. Reopening would require a significant new industrial or high-end tourism development in the immediate vicinity, which is not currently foreseen.
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