PHILIPPINE AERIALTAXI COMPANY: Philippines (1930-1939)

Privately owned PATCO is established at Manila on December 30, 1930, initially to transport supplies, equipment, and personnel of its organizers. Shareholding is divided between a group of individual investors led by former U. S. Army Aviation Service Maj. Joseph Suvent, who had attempted to start the Philippine Airways Service a decade earlier, and Spanish citizen Andres Soriano, president of the Miguel brewery.

The concern orders one each WACO and Stinson biplanes and these are employed, beginning on March 31, 1931, to inaugurate both private and public charter operations to Baguio, Paracale, and Legaspi. One of the routes flown rather regularly, that north from Manila to Baguio, becomes fully scheduled on Christmas Eve.

The Philippine Bureau of Posts awards the company a mail contract on January 25, 1932 for its Manila-Baguio route. The company continues its largely unheralded services without change over the next two years. In April 1934, the two original aircraft are joined by three Bel-lanca cabin aircraft and on November 14 the Commonwealth grants the carrier a permanent license. Although not immediately of concern, a new constitution is adopted by the Philippines during the year, one that permits a president and full political administration.

There are no additional significant occurrences with PATCO until February 28, 1938, when one of its Bellancas disappears into the sea near Manila. After the establishment of the Bureau of Aeronautics, its officers arrive at company headquarters on November 1 to inform PATCO executives that, after a grace period, they will no longer be permitted to operate single-engine aircraft, the only type in their fleet.

Paul L. Gunn brings his wife and four children to Manila in early 1939 to serve as President Soriano’s personal pilot; his name will become very familiar in local aviation circles during and after World War II.

Unable to acquire larger aircraft, PATCO declares bankruptcy in September. During its nine years of operation, the pioneering operator has flown over 25,000 passengers. Less than two years later, Gunn will recommend that Soriano form another carrier. The new Philippine Airways, established in February 1941, purchases PATCO’s assets on July 22 for 500 pesos.