Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport
Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport
Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport (IATA: TAC, ICAO: RPVA), also known as Tacloban City Airport, is an airport serving the general area of Tacloban, a highly urbanized city in the Leyte island of the Philippines. It is the main gateway from Manila and Cebu to Eastern Visayas. It is classified as a Class 1 principal (major domestic) airport by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines. In 2024, Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport served 1.69 million passengers, making it the eleventh-busiest in the country. The airport is named after Daniel Z. Romualdez, a former speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines and a former representative of Leyte.
Location
11.228°N, 125.028°E · 3 m s. n. m. (10 ft)
General data
Runways · 1
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 2
Tower
Approach
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
During World War II
First known as San Jose Airstrip, after the village where it is located, it was constructed as an airstrip for the US Air Force and a Seaplane base for the U.S. Navy by Seabees of the 88th Naval Construction Battalion at Leyte-Samar Naval Base Ca during World War II. USAF units based here included the 43d Bombardment Wing (15 November 1944 – 16 March 1945), 345th Bombardment Group (1 January – 13 February 1945), 417th Bombardment Group (6 December–22, 1944), 49th Fighter Group (24 October – 30 December 1944), 348th Fighter Group (16 November 1944 – 4 February 1945), 421st Night Fighter Squadron (25 October 1944 – 8 February 1945), and the 547th Night Fighter Squadron (9 November 1944 – 11 January 1945).
After World War II, when the airport was converted for use in commercial aviation, it became known popularly as Tacloban National Airport. The airport was given its current name in honor of Daniel Z. Romualdez, a representative from Leyte who became the 10th speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives. He was the uncle of Imelda Romualdez Marcos, the wife of president Ferdinand E. Marcos.
Devastation by Typhoon Haiyan and contemporary history
On November 7–8, 2013, Typhoon Haiyan roared through Tacloban and the Eastern Visayas Region. The Tacloban Airport was effectively destroyed by winds averaging to 314 km/h (195 mph) and a 4.0-meter (13 ft) storm surge. The airport terminal and the control tower were utterly demolished, and the airport was rendered unusable. The airport reopened on November 11 initially for turboprop aircraft, before reopening to A320 flights by November 14.
On January 17, 2015, Pope Francis celebrated an open-air Mass that attracted nearly half a million pilgrims from all over the country at the airport apron to remember the devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan.
Expansion and future development
In 1997, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) conducted a study which indicated the need for expansion of Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport, along with Legazpi Airport, Bacolod City Domestic Airport, and Mandurriao Airport in Iloilo City.
Expansion works for the existing passenger terminal began in 2017 to address congestion in the airport. On March 16, 2018, the expanded passenger terminal was inaugurated.
Part of the development project is the construction of the new terminal building and the extension of the runway from 2,100 to 2,500 meters (6,900 to 8,200 ft). These developments are necessary to make the airport an international airport by 2026.
Airlines operating here · 3
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: mtoz from san francisco, ca, usa · CC BY-SA 2.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.
This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport (TAC). Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TAC
MLA
“Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport (TAC).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TAC. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport (TAC).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TAC.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport (TAC). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TAC (Accessed: 18 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_tac,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport (TAC)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TAC},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TAC}},
urldate = {2026-10-18},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-18}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TAC |title=Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport (TAC) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-18 |language=en}}