Mactan Cebu International Airport — Cebu City/Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines

Mactan-Cebu International Airport rises on the island where Ferdinand Magellan met his death in 1521 at the hands of the local chieftain Lapu-Lapu, a battle now commemorated by a shrine not far from the runways that make CEB the busiest airport in the central and southern Philippines. Serving both Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City across a channel bridge, the airport functions as the primary international gateway to the Visayas region, funneling tourists toward beach destinations like Bohol, Boracay, and the diving sites scattered across the archipelago's central waters. A striking Terminal 2, opened in 2018 and built largely from local timber in a design meant to evoke traditional basket weaving, replaced cramped older facilities and significantly expanded international capacity. The airport also supports a growing manufacturing and business-process outsourcing economy centered on Cebu, alongside considerable domestic traffic linking the islands together. Typhoon exposure and monsoon rains periodically disrupt schedules, a reality shared across much of the Philippine archipelago's aviation network.