Skip to main content

New runway for Philippines airport

SunWest Construction Development Corporation has been using a concrete paver from Power Pavers at the new Bicol International Airport in the Philippines. The machine has been used to pave a runway, taxiways, and aprons for the US$105 million project underway in the Daraga municipality of Albay province in the Bicol Region. The new facility has been built as a replacement to the single runway Legazpi airport, which is located in an urban area where future expansion is not possible. SunWest used its Powe
October 1, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
The new Bicol International Airport in the Philippines will offer increased capacity and better safety
SunWest Construction Development Corporation has been using a concrete paver from 3975 Power Pavers at the new Bicol International Airport in the Philippines.


The machine has been used to pave a runway, taxiways, and aprons for the US$105 million project underway in the Daraga municipality of Albay province in the Bicol Region. The new facility has been built as a replacement to the single runway Legazpi airport, which is located in an urban area where future expansion is not possible.

SunWest used its Power Paver SF-2700 to pave a total width of 45m for the new Bicol runway. The SF-2700 was set at a width of 6m and the runway was paved in six lanes. The firm then changed the paver width to 4.5m and added the shoulder onto each side of the runway. A belt finisher was used on the back of the SF-2700 to produce a smooth finish.

The runway is 2.1km long and 400mm deep, and took 37,800m3 of concrete to pour. The mix design for the runway paving included sand from the Mayon Volcano, and 102mm river stone, and 9.5mm, 19mm, and 25mm crushed stone with a 25>40mm slump.

The new airport is a short distance from the city of Legazpi, but unlike the older facility it is not surrounded by buildings. It will be able to accommodate larger aircraft and more passengers, and has room for long-term expansion.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Growing niche market for roller compacted concrete
    February 20, 2012
    A growing niche market for roller compacted concrete has prompted manufacturers to offer solutions. Mike Woof reports. Increased demand for roller compacted concrete (RCC) machines in certain applications mean that this is now a growing market, with manufacturers having developed new machines for this sector. RCC comprises uncrushed and/or crushed aggregate, hydraulic binders and may also contain concrete additives. It is mixed in a concrete mixing plant on or near the job site and one of its main benefits
  • This runway builder perfected paving and landed remarkable results
    August 31, 2023
    This busy airport needed a complete runway renovation without disrupting daily scheduled take-offs and landings. Each workday, construction could start no sooner than 11pm and couldn’t end a minute past 6am. Without state-of-the-art technology from Trimble—including 3D machine guidance—and expert training from SITECH, this complex and high-precision project would've never got off the ground.
  • Brisbane’s new airport link is an engineering success
    April 12, 2013
    Financial troubles for Brisbane's new Airport Link overshadow its construction success – Adrian Greeman writes. Political argument and legal dispute is likely to rage for some time yet over the bankruptcy of Australian road operator BrisConnect, which went into receivership this February with A$3 billion in debt. Toll paying users for its new Airport Link have been less than half the predicted numbers since it opened in July last summer. But if its nancial engineering is being questioned, the same is not t
  • New paving range
    February 8, 2012
    Several key additions to Dynapac's equipment line-up will extend the firm's machine range for the road construction market. Paving, planer and compaction lines will benefit from new machines, with president Claes Ahrengart emphasising the investment in research and development Dynapac continues to make.