26/02/2023
TODAY IN AVIATION HISTORY |
It was on February 26, 1941 when the Philippine Air Lines, Inc.
was founded by a group of businessmen headed by
Andrés Soriano Sr.– a leading Filipino industrialist at the time.
The franchise for the Philippine Aerial Taxi Company, Inc. was purchased by Soriano and Senator Ramón R. Fernández and was then renamed to Philippine Air Lines (PAL).
While on March 15 of the same year to when it was founded,
the airline made its first flight with a single Beechcraft Model 18 NPC-54 for a daily service between Manila and Baguio.
The said flight carried five passengers and they are also the founder of the airline.
The five passengers were Soriano, Fernández, Juan Miguel Elizalde, John R. Schultz, and Ernesto Von Kaufmann.
To this day, the airline is known to serve
32 domestic destinations in the Philippines,
and 44 overseas destinations
in 23 countries in Southeast Asia, East Asia, Middle East, Oceania, North America, and Europe.
It also operates mixed fleets of Airbus and Boeing Aircrafts varying from Airbus A320, Airbus A321, Airbus A321neo, Airbus A330. Airbus A350, and Boeing 777-300ER.
