The airport itself
Francisco Bangoy International Airport, also referred to as Davao International Airport, is listed by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines as the first facility under its Area Center 11, and the authority's area centres are responsible for managing airports in line with national and international standards.
The airport has been undergoing a passenger terminal expansion, with the aviation authority describing a project that substantially increases floor area and seating. Public information has described the expanded facility as intended for international flights with the existing building continuing to handle domestic services, so terminal arrangements may differ from what older articles describe. Check your own flight's terminal information rather than relying on a general rule.
How the taxi system works
This is the part worth reading before you land, because it is specific and it protects you.
The city government, together with the aviation authority and the land transport regulators, issued guidelines for taxi drivers at the airport in response to contracting and overcharging. Under those guidelines, drivers receive queue cards from the guard on duty and wait in a designated holding area, they must stay in their units, and negotiating a price with passengers is prohibited.
Passengers receive a complaint stub from airport personnel when boarding a taxi, and the stub is checked at the airport exit point.
Other ways into the city
The city operates a bus service, published by the city government with defined operating hours in the morning and evening from Monday to Saturday and a live tracker. The service was launched in late 2025 across a set of city routes.
An airport route is not named in the city's own service information, so treat the bus network as a way to move around the city rather than as an assumed airport connection. Ride-hailing and local transport options also operate in Davao; confirm the designated pickup arrangements at the terminal on arrival.
Local rules that surprise visitors
Davao City enforces several ordinances more visibly than most Philippine cities, and it is easier to know about them than to discover them.
A Vices Regulation Unit under the city mayor enforces the city's anti-smoking and liquor ban ordinances. Under the liquor ban ordinance, consuming liquor and other alcoholic or intoxicating drinks in public is prohibited from 1am to 8am. The city has publicly reported substantial numbers of anti-smoking and liquor ban apprehensions and significant fines collected, so enforcement is not nominal.
The city also implemented a speed limit ordinance with defined limits by road type, including lower limits on minor roads, barangay roads and school zones, with signage placed at regular intervals. That matters mainly if you are driving, but it also explains a road culture that feels more orderly than in some other Philippine cities.
A short arrival routine
Confirm which building your flight uses, since the terminal arrangement has been changing with the expansion. Get pesos before you leave, in small notes. Join the official taxi queue, take the complaint stub you are handed, and keep it. Have your accommodation address written down. And read the local ordinances once, so your first evening is not the way you learn about them.