Commercial aviation booming in the Philippines

Title

Language

English

Year

1934

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

Kneedler to America for more planes for taxi trips; the 2 big companies consistently well patronized.

Fulltext

14 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL June, 1934 Commercial Aviation Booming in the Philippines Kneedler to America for more planes for taxi trips; the 2 big com panies consistently well patronized We are glad to notice the enterprise of two young men in aviation in the Philippines, Don Kneedler and his partner T. C. Montee, of the Aerial Service Co., Inc., formerly with the Philippine Air Taxi Company. Flying no fixed routes, but carrying passengers to whatever points they wish to go, these fliers have gained business enough to warrant expansion of their facilities. Don Kneedler has gone to America to buy a Fairchild cabin plane for them, and 3 others that they have sold here. These planes carry 3 to 4 passengers besides the pilot, have a high cruising speed and are equipped for blind and night flying: they are Kneedler and Montee’s choice for their taxi business. Wing flaps enable these planes to land and take off in fields of small area, the flaps brak ing the speed while landing and speeding altitude when taking off. All commercial aviation com panies report excellent business during this season. Wm. R. Bradford of the Philip pine Aerial Taxi Co., Grace Park, Manila, reports heavy patronage throughout the season on their regular Manila-Raguio run, that has kept their two 5-passenger Bellancas busy. On May 7, for example, 29 passengers were carried; the best day of the season, prior to May 7, counted 33 passengers. The planes make from 2 to 4 trips between Manila and Baguio daily. This regular passenger service is a great boon to the mails as well as the business public. Several thousand letters are carried per month. To improve and extend the mail service, boxes will be installed in the downtown district, especially along the Escolta, as soon as formally approved by the posts administration. The boxes are in readiness. The company has also sold 3 Waco (“a” as in are) planes for private use. J. H. Marsman bought one to use between Baguio and Manila and Manila and Paracale, and so cut time in traveling between his office in Manila and his mining prop erties. J. R. McMicking bought one; he is a licensed aviator and will be his own pilot. Benito and Jos6 Razon bought one, for use of Andres Soriano and Antonio Roxas; the latter is the owner-manager of a plantation and the sugar central atNasugbu, Batangas. This year, therefore, aviation in the islands Don Kneedler steps forward into the range of the private owner using air planes as he could use motor cars. It may be an old story elsewhere, but it is a new one here—at least on the scale of 3 planes from 1 company during a single season. Manager Louis Weinzheimer of the Calamba and del Car men sugar centrals is among the business men who have gone over to the airplane for their provincial trips. He now habit ually flies between del Carmen and Calamba, and has accom modated both places with first rate fields at the free dispo sition of all aviators. Judge John W. Haussermann has had the thrill of his initial flight from Baguio to Manila. The virus spreads. Perhaps the most used regular airline in the islands is that of the Iloilo-Negros Air Express between Iloilo and Negros, a 15minute run from Iloilo alternately to Bacolod and Pulupandan, Oc cidental Negros, for which the planes, 3-engined Stinsons, are nearly always crowded—often with extra seats in the aisle. The same company runs Stinsons 3 round trips weekly during the season, and less often throughout the year, be tween Manila and Iloilo, and makes weekly trips fipm Iloilo to Zamboanga. Its manager, Francis co A. Rivera, in Manila, reports good traffic throughout the present season on the Manila-Iloilo run, where one way fare is f * 49 and round-trip fare is P88.20. The regular Baguio-Manila fare of the Philippine Aerial Taxi Company is P25 one way, F45 the round trip. The hour’s one-way trip compares with a little more than 2 hours from Manila to Iloilo. Kneedler and Montee operate out of Baguio northward, taking passengers from Baguio to points in Ilocos and the Cagayan valley—as from Baguio to Aparri or Tuguegarao. They, as well as the companies maintaining planes on the regular routes specified above, take commercial passengers wherever landings can be made and takeoffs effected for the return trip. This taxi work, for all practicing aviators in the islands, implies keen meteorological sense, a familiarity with air conditions over the Philippines that didn’t exist, outside the army, until private enterprise inaugurated commercial flying 3 years ago. It is serving industries many good turns, the mining industry particularly, while making Baguio a commuting center from Manila. Topics Photo

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