Running Around in Circles

Many times I find myself “lost” when traveling around the world in various aviation landmarks. Such was again the feeling when I went around one of the best international hubs in the world – the Hong Kong International Airport in Chep Lap Kok. I represented the Secretary of Transportation, Secretary Leandro Mendoza, at the ASIAN AEROSPACE International Expo and Congress last September 8-10 at the Asia World-Expo.

I also took the opportunity of visiting the Hong Kong Fire Station, as a side trip to the expo, so I could learn from the way they have organized their sea rescue capability. I looked forward, as well, to see how the new Terminal 2 has added much to the airport’s capacity in the years to come.

The ASIAN AEROSPACE International Expo and Congress is held once every two years and it was the second time for Hong Kong to host the event. This time, the event organizers have made it in such a way that one can attend different meetings while going through the exhibits and the aircraft static displays anytime during the three days.

The biggest aircraft manufacturers were there: AIRBUS and BOEING. The engine manufacturers were well represented too, as well as the different airports of China and the other continents. The aircraft suppliers were all present; and a myriad of flight training software and hardware specialists gave briefings to any interested organizations.

I attended the congress on Future Watch Aerospace and Air Transport Trends on the first day. Experts discussed aviation as the real World Wide Web. It is clear that the “number of passengers is expected to rise by 145 percent between 2007 and 2026 from just below 2.5 billion to 6 billion.” Air Transport will “directly employ 8.5 million people and contribute $1 trillion to world GDP.”

True from the time of the first heavier-than-air flight in 1903 to today, aviation has shrunk the globe, cause many to travel around the world and eradicated the physical barriers of countries and continents. As I have mentioned in the last article, we will be celebrating the centennial of our first flight in the Philippines by April 2011.

Yet, the very advantage of travel has caused families to separate as our OFWs continue to toil in the confines of the more developed countries. We have not found the way to improve our working conditions and upgrade the quality of life of our people. We seem to be running around in circles, lost as I am in another country, trying to look for the answer.

But we know what it is we must do. All the seminars, airport and aviation fora you and I have attended just frustrate us more – because we know the answers, we know what exactly to do. We have many experts in the sciences; our countrymen are immersed around the world in the corporations of progress. But we continue to be adrift...from first in Asia to nearly the last in aviation development.

But we will always face the challenge: to gradually bring us back to where we were. Countless Filipinos abroad are positive that we will get there. The Aviation Society of the Philippines has this as its primary reason for being. By now, we all recognize that in order to get our bearings back, we must reach out, be one and ...Follow the Dream