(Beechcraft King Air B200 plane.)
CLARK FREEPORT – A small cooperative founded by a group of 15 Philippine Air Force (PAF) pilots flying vintage “Tora-Tora” planes here in 1981 has emerged to become a corporation with five subsidiaries, including one that operates chartered flights with its five aircraft.
The cooperative, now the Leading Edge Air Services Corp. (Leascor), launched here last week the maiden chartered flight of its Beechcraft King Air B200 executive plane to Borongan, Samar to kick off chartered flights to various parts of the country.
Retired PAF Col. Allan Ballesteros, now Leascor marketing manager, recalled that the firm could be traced back to 1981 “when a bunch of 15 intrepid combat pilots of the Philippine Air Force flying the vintage Tora-Tora planes and Sikorsky helicopters banded together to form the Aviation Cadet Development Inc. (ACDI) which later became a multipurpose cooperative growing in membership, assets and fiscal health.”
It will be recalled that in 1978, amendments to the US-Philippine Military Bases Agreement affirmed Philippine sovereignty over US military bases in the country. This required the naming of Filipino commanders at Clark, as well as Subic bases, and the establishment of Filipino military contingents in the bases. At Clark, a contingent of the PAF was founded.
He said ACDI later became the ACDI Multi-Purpose Cooperative (ACDI-MPC) which now has five subsidiaries including Leascor, the KoopKing Multipurpose Cooperative, the Ramcel Convenient Bag Corp., the Agri Business Corp., the Leading Edge International Aviation Academy (LEIAAI) for pilots, and the King Aces Travel and Tours Inc. (KATTSI).
Ballesteros said Leascor was created in 2016 “as an air charter company sporting its fleet of one Beechcraft King Air B200 executive plane and four Fokker 50 each with 50 economy seats to bring passengers to any airport in the country be it well-served, less-served, or unserved by commercial airlines.”
“Leascor’s domicile is in Clark International Airport where its hangar and main station is located,” he added. “It offers services in aircraft rental for executive and business travels, or for corporate and personal trips. It offers competitive difference such professionally maintained aircrafts, a pool of professional and experienced flight deck crew and cabin crew, renter insurance, and our 24-hour scheduling service that will allow greater flexibility in responding to the travel needs of its clients.”
Ballesteros noted that, on the other hand, Leascor’s sister company, KATTSI, simultaneously launched its product of travel and tour packages to “known tourist destinations utilizing the Fokker 50 as its main transport from Clark to Palawan, Bohol, Cebu, Borongan, Busuanga, Iloilo, Cagayan De Oro, Davao and other parts of the country.”
“Leascor recently opened Borongan in Eastern Samar to air travel with charter flights from Borongan to Cebu and vice versa supporting the local government’s eff orts to bring Borongan closer to tourists and the rest of the country,” he added.
