Bridging the Gap
Air transportation in Iloilo in the 1930s
Iloilo in the 1920s and the 1930s was considered as the "Queen City of Southern Philippines". Aside from its reputation as the commercial entrepot and cultural capital of the Visayas, Iloilo also pride itself at that time as the home of the most modern transportation facilities, both in land and water. But other than this is the fact that Iloilo was also claimed to be the cradle of modern air transportation in the Philippines. No doubt, the availability of comfortable and convenient means of transportation contributed much to Iloilo's prominence.
The Ilonggos were among the first to become "air conscious" and to travel in style. This is due to the fact that Iloilo City was reputed to be the birthplace of Filipino enterprise in commercial transportation. The Philippines' first passenger air service between Iloilo and Bacolod was operated by Jose Tinsay, an Ilonggo, in 1925 (David 1937; Angayen 1985).
Few years later, to serve the growing demand for fast and convenient means of travel by the affluent Ilonggos in both Panay and Negros Occidental for business and other purposes, the Iloilo-Negros Air Express Co., Inc. (INAEC) was founded in 1932. The INAEC, organized under the initiative of the Lopez brothers—Eugenio and Fernando—was considered as the boldest bid ever made in the Philippines for public support of regular commercial aviation (David 1937). Its initial routes were Iloilo to Bacolod and back. The inauguration of the company's Iloilo-Manila service in February 3, 1933 with a big Stinson tri-motored ten-passenger cabin airliner was a milestone in the country's modern transportation system. Other than the Iloilo-Manila route and vice-versa, INAEC also maintained regular service between Iloilo and Bacolod and added in its itinerary other places like Cebu, Del Monte and Davao.
In the 1930s, INAEC's fare from Iloilo to Bacolod or Bacolod to Iloilo was P5.00. It must be noted, however, that P5.00 at that time could buy one sack of first class rice, or a terno of Manchester drill, or five pieces of polo shirts or kamisadentro (Angayen 1985).
Tinsay, who was already airlifting passengers from Iloilo to Bacolod and back aboard his Curtiss Oriole biplane, became part of INAEC's pool of pilots.
The purchase by the company of the amphibian airliner Sikorsky S-43 in February of 1937 had greatly enhanced travel in Western Visayas, affording speed and comfort. The Sikorsky S-43, considered to be the most modern and INAEC's mainliner, which had cost the company over P260,000 had a cruising speed of 170 mph and can fly 200 mph, if necessary. It offered both the DeLuxe Skylounge and the commodius 15 deep cushioned easy chairs in an 18-passenger type cabin plane. With the ability to depart or alight via land or water, it greatly reduced travel between Manila and Iloilo to 1 hour and 45 minutes. It was equipped with radio instruments, facilitating communication with the radio stations at the different airports. The Sikorsky S-43 was hailed as the "nation's largest, most powerful, most luxurious airplane" (Santos 1976).
INAEC's central office was located at 20 Ortiz St., Iloilo City and its Manila office at 523 Dasmariñas, Cavite (David 1937). Its airstrip was found at the reclaimed area behind Fort San Pedro in Iloilo City in what was formerly called Tap-uk.