It is located 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) north of Dumaguete on a 63-hectare (160-acre)[2] site in Barangay Agan-an in the nearby municipality of Sibulan.

The airport was built by the Philippine government with supervision and guidance from the United States Army Air Corps in 1938.

During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines as part of the Second World War, in 1942, two parallel runways running in an east–west direction were constructed.

[3] In 2017, the air traffic control system was upgraded, and new navigational equipment were installed, making the airport capable of handling night operations.

[8] Although there were proposals to build the airport in the nearby cities of Bais and Tanjay and the municipality of Siaton, Bacong was the most preferred due to its use for constructing a northeast–southwest runway, which planes can land and take off in that direction, and its safety-oriented location ideal for future expansion.