Despite the great depression in the US and Europe, aviation in the Philippines still boomed at that time with 60 airfields scattered all over the country, four of which were in Manila. INAEC then used Grace Park (airfields were then called “parks”) located near the Bonifacio Monument. From 1935 to April 1937, the Air Corps had arrangements with INAEC and the US Army Air Corps in Nichols Field for enlisted men to work as apprentices in their shops. Many Air Corps maintenance men had their hands-on training at INAEC. Also in 1937, INAEC purchased its own seaplane, a Sikorsky S-43 amphibian, the most modern aircraft at that time, which carried 16 passengers. Another feat for INAEC is the introduction of steward service which was the first in the Philippines. INAEC was so successful that, by the end of the decade, it was flying 2,000 passengers a month. In 1941, it began flying to Baguio. The entire INAEC fleet was however destroyed in World War II. But quickly after the war, Don Eugenio H. Lopez, Sr. and brother Fernando Lopez (former Vice President of the Philippines) restarted INAEC operations. INAEC was converted to Far Eastern Air Transport Inc. (FEATI), with an inaugural flight on November 19, 1945 from Grace Park in Manila to Iloilo. Immediately the airline set up a wide network of domestic routes. In May 1946, it flew to Hong Kong and Bangkok, making it the first Filipino airline to go regional. Later, with flights to San Francisco, Shanghai, and India, it became the country’s first international airline service. A combination of political and business developments in 1947 eventually forced the Lopez brothers to sell FEATI, which was merged by its new owner with Philippine Airlines. Past Routes  (Domestic) (International)   In 1993, the Lopez Group of Companies, the parent company of ABS-CBN, revived INAEC to support its own air transportation requirements. On November 9, 1993, the INAEC brand was reborn to service the air transportation needs of the Lopez Group. On December 19, 2001 INAEC obtained its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) and immediately thereafter went into domestic and international chartering and non-scheduled air services. Prior to such event, there had already plans to revive the airline company by the Lopez Group of Companies which was disclosed by Mayor of Iloilo City, Jed Patrick Mabilog who had met with the son of Don Oscar Lopez and officials of the Iloilo-Negros Air Express Company (INAEC).