Cebu’s Aviatour spreads wings

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Jemar Bahinting was no stranger to the aviation industry when she returned to the Philippines in 2006 to help run the family business.

Since her father was a pilot, Jemar says bonding time growing up involved riding airplanes.

In the process, she learned one of her father’s missions: To improve the Philippines’ image through aviation.

It was this mission that pushed Jemar to expand the operations of Aviatour, a company that her father, Capt. Jessup Bahinting, established in 2002 in Lapu-Lapu City.

The company has a flight school in Texas, United States and the flight center facility in California will re-open on April 3.

The company also has four hangars at the general aviation area of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City.

Expansion

Jemar is the company’s president and chief operating officer while Capt. Bahinting is chair and chief executive officer.

Apart from flight training, Aviatour is also into aircraft sales, aircraft maintenance, charter flights and tour services.

The company has 35 airplanes (which consists of Cessna 152, Cessna 172, Cessna 182, Baron 58 and Seneca) with over 70 full-time and part-time employees.

Acquiring another facility in California is a major move for Aviatour, Jemar says.

“We expect that this will not only give our potential flight training customers another option to train. The acquisition will assist in the growing procurement needs of our facility here in Cebu and in Texas,” she tells the Inquirer.

The flight school’s students come from 24 countries in Asia, Middle East, Russia and Africa. Most of them heard about the school from former students.

Charter flights and aerial tours are now popular as Aviatour offers reasonable rates, considering the skyrocketing price of aviation gas.

For instance, a 30-minute aerial tour of Olango Island and neighboring islands in Cebu costs about P3,500.

“We are working on initiatives to improve our charter and tour operations, which we expect to positively impact and enlarge the tourism footprint in Cebu and the Philippines,” she says.

Jemar graduated with a mass communications degree from Ambassador University. She also has a Master’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas, Dallas.

Homecoming

She was into strategic management in the United States before coming home to help her father.

Capt. Bahinting was born in Siquijor and raised in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental.

His father, who worked at the Civil Aviation Administration (now the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines), first exposed him to aviation.

But it was while working as helper to a pilot that he discovered that “flying might be a calling.”

His informal training with his pilot-mentor brought him to Davao, as one of the aircraft he helped fix was bought by a flight school in Davao.

At the Mindanao Aeronautical Technical School, he was encouraged by the owner to formally learn how to fly. He agreed and got his license.

Soon after he retired, he decided to put up his own business with the help of a former employer. Over the years, his business, JMB Aviation, has grown into what is now known as Aviatour.

Jemar says the genuine commitment of the Aviatour staff and pilots makes the competitors’ presence irrelevant.

Lessons

“They make sure that the airplanes are all properly maintained and that the students are all trained according to plan,” she adds.

Asked to describe her father, Jemar says: “He is kind. It is not in the way of grand words, but in the way he treats everyone around him. He is giving of his time and is highly supportive of the needs of communities in the Visayan area, especially when it comes to general aviation.”

And what has she learned from her father, aside from making a career out of aviation?

“Intelligence will take you one way, but kindness will take you farther.” I am honored to carry on his legacy,” she shares.

These lessons, she says, help her in running the business and ensuring that “we are delivering maximum value to our customers.”

Jemar did not become a pilot, but the lessons she learned from her father are more than enough to take her and the company to even greater heights.