Mactan–Cebu International Airport is the second busiest international airport in the Philippines. It is located in the city of Lapu-Lapu on Mactan, a part of Metro Cebu and serves the Central Visayas region. The airport is managed by the Mactan–Cebu International Airport Authority and serves as a hub for Cebu Pacific, Pan Pacific Airlines, and Royal Air Philippines.

On 797 hectares (1,970 acres), it has a single 3,300-meter (10,800 ft) runway that was built by the United States in 1956 as an emergency airport for U.S. Air Forces' Strategic Air Command bombers and was known as Mactan Air Base.[4] The runway is complemented by a full-length taxiway that it shares with the current Mactan Air Base of the Philippine Air Force.
In the mid-1960s, the civilian airport was opened, to replace the now closed Lahug Airport (now the site of Cebu IT Park), which could no longer be expanded due to safety and physical problems. The airport was later expanded to the current Mactan–Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

On August 20, 2008, the Mactan–Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) announced that about 300 million Philippine pesos will be spent for the terminal expansion program to address the increasing volume of passenger traffic. MCIAA former general manager Danilo Augusto Francia said the program also includes the establishment of a second passenger terminal in the Mactan–Cebu International Airport.[5] In 2009, former general manager Francia announced for the public bidding for the construction of the new generation terminal to service only international flights.
On November 12, 2013, the world's longest and heaviest aircraft, the Antonov An-225 Mriya, landed at MCIA from the Zagreb International Airport in Croatia for the first time in the Philippines to deliver a 180-ton replacement transformer from the Croatian energy company KONČAR to the First Gen Corporation's power plant in Batangas City. Officials of First Gen approached MCIAA General Manager Nigel Paul Villarete to allow the Antonov An-225 to utilize the airport for the transportation of their delivery after officials from Clark International Airport, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, and Subic Bay International Airport refused to allow the aircraft to utilize their airports. According to First Gen President Francis Giles Puno, MCIA had been inspected by Antonov Airlines, the owner of the Antonov An-225 aircraft, as the most viable option for their aircraft, "after considering the combination of airport, onward land transport and sea freight.

On June 7, 2018, Terminal 2 was inaugurated by President Rodrigo Duterte, with the terminal being operational on July 1. On August 27, 2018, which is also National Heroes Day in the Philippines, President Duterte expressed support for renaming the airport after Mactan chieftain Lapu-Lapu whose forces killed Ferdinand Magellan during the Battle of Mactan in 1521.
In 2020, the second runway of the airport will begin its construction so that planes could land at the airport simultaneously.