‘THE FUTURE IS...
the Philippines, as an American colony and strategic military base, its firsts.
Then Lt. Col. Dwight Eisenhower, who later became the 34th US president, learned to fly in the Philippines, performing his first solo flight on May 19, 1937 under the tutelage of Philippine Army Air Corps Lt. William Lee.
Philippine Airlines ( PAL) made history on July 31, 1946 as the first Asian air carrier, chartered by an American serviceman, to fly across the Pacific and into the US. It also eventually became the first Southeast Asian airline to fly commercially to Europe.
As a pioneer in commercial flight and among the roster of top international airlines with routes covering threefourths of the globe, PAL helped organize Japan Airlines, providing the newlyformed firm a Douglas DC-3 commercial transport ( a twin engine monoplane called the skysleepers because it could accommodate 14 overnight passengers), pilots and training for flight attendants and other crew members.
After PAL completed its first commercial flight with five passengers from Makati to Baguio City in 1941, airlines emerged one after the other, initially offering air cargo and airmail services. Air travel was soon introduced when demand for an efficient and faster mode of transportation to do business in the Philippines and overseas grew among industrialists and members of the Filipino elite.
This gave birth to the need for airspace regulation.
The country was transitioning to independence from the US when an office under the US Department of Commerce and Communications regulated air commerce through Legislative Act 3909, the Air Commerce Act of 1931, the firstever aviation law passed by the American government.
The law, which set air traffic rules, schedules and rates, was later amended to include the licensing of pilots and aircraft certification. It also gave birth, five years later, to the Bureau of Aeronautics, which was created under Commonwealth Act 168 or the Civil Aviation Law of the Philippines.
The bureau soon became the National Airports Corporation in June 1948 to serve as an agency for the development, administration, operation and management of government-owned landing fields except those under the Armed Forces.
When the corporation was abolished in 1950, it was replaced by the Civil Aeronautics Administration which, under Republic Act 776 or the Civil Aeronautics Act of the Philippines was split into two offices: the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). While CAB oversaw the business side of air travel, the aviation authority enforced aviation rules and regulations.
The CAA was soon renamed the Bureau of Air Transportation in 1979 and then as the Air Transportation Office (ATO) in 1987. More than another name change, the bill passed in 1987 gave the ATO regulatory and operational functions. The office eventually evolved into the modern- day Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) when Republic Act 9497 or the Civil Aviation Act of 2008 was enacted, expanding the scope of its authority over all forms of air travel.
From mere policy- making and regulation, the newly created CAAP was practically given full control of the skies and the authority to chart the future of Philippine aviation.
World’s order in the air
Among trailblazers in the global aviation, the Philippines is also one of the first signatories in the Convention on International Civil Aviation or the Chicago Convention in 1944, which gave birth to the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The convention basically put ICAO in place as the “world’s order in the air,” coordinating and regulating international air travel and setting the pace at a time when countries were establishing their respective aviation authorities.
Out of 40 agreements forged in the convention, the most important were the pacts setting the exclusive sovereignty of each state over its airspace and the protection of civilian aircraft. ICAO allowed commercial airlines to fly across international territories.
ICAO now works with 191 member-states, from the original 26 that ratified the 1944 convention, in developing over 10,000 international standards and recommended practices governing air travel as stated in the 19 annexes to the Chicago Convention.
The international organization regularly audits and inspects some 100,000 flights around the world to make sure they are safe, efficient and secure.