Asian Airline Industry

Some of the first countries in Asia to embrace air transport were India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines.

One of the first countries in Asia to embrace air transport was the Philippines. Philippine Airlines was founded on February 26, 1941, making it one of Asia's oldest carriers and also the oldest operating under its current name. The airline was started by a group of businessmen led by Andres Soriano, hailed as one of the Philippines' leading industrialists at the time. The airline’s first flight was made on March 15, 1941 with a single Beech Model 18 NPC-54 aircraft, which started its daily services between Manila (from Nielson Field) and Baguio, later to expand with larger aircraft such as the DC-3 and Vickers Viscount.