Philippine International Hot Air Balloon

Fiesta

History

Before it even became the biggest sports event in the country, having
a festival was decided by the then Tourism Secretary Mina Gabor and three of
her friends including a hot air balloon pilot in 1994. Three years after the
massive devastation brought by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, the hot air
balloon festival aims to jumpstart Pampangas economy. Another objective is to
position the province as a center of aviation in the Philippines.
Tourism Secretary Mina Gabor together with Korean businessman and
hot-air balloon pilot, Mr. Sung Kee Paik, and British Airways General Manager,
Mr. John Emery, and the German aviation enthusiast Max Motschmann
engineered the Philippine International hot air balloon festival to help
jumpstart the local economy and spirit of the Central Luzon region with the
commitment of developing hot air ballooning as an aviation sport in the
country and making the Philippines one of the leading sports aviation and
travel destinations in the Asia Pacific region. The 1994 event originally
organized by the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Hot Air Balloon Club, the
Clark Development Corporation and British Airways initially began with 21
balloon pilots from 10 countries and one entry from the Philippines. The
success of the festival in 1994 brought about an increase in the number of
participants in 1995 to 27 balloons including a basketless one-man balloon
and two entries from the Philippines. The 1995 festival also saw the
introduction of ultra light planes to the events.
By 1996 responsibility of the event was transferred from the Department
of Tourism to Air Ads, Inc. under the watchful eyes of Captain Joy Roa who is
also an avid licensed balloon pilot. Between 1996 and 1998, the growing
popularity of the festival was expanded to include other aero-sports activities
such as sky diving, paragliding, motorized hang gliding, remote controlled
model (aero modelers), and kite flying. Aerobatic stunts and precision
maneuvers courtesy of the Blue Diamonds and later the Red Aces of the
Philippine Air Force became a regular attraction of the festival.
Financial difficulties in 1999 led to the cancellation of the festival, but
saw a resurgence in 2000 with 12 balloons and 18 light planes from Thailand,
Japan and Singapore, all participating in an air rally which has become a
regular component of the festivities. 2003 saw a change in the traditional

ballooning format. Specially designed balloons in the shape of a flying

newspaper from Korea and a large dog from Japan made their debut over the
Pampanga skyline. Balloon participation from Malaysia, Korea, Japan,
Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and the Netherlands
drew crowds from around the world.
From 2004 until today, the hot air balloon festival now draws more than
50,000 visitors from all over the world. Participants are from the US, the UK,
Canada and Asian countries.

The Nature and the Background of the Festival

The Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta is an annual event
that occurs between January and February at the Omni Aviation Complex in
Clark Freeport Zone, Angeles City, Pampanga. It features multicolored hot air
balloons with more than a hundred balloon pilots from around the world. This
three to four day hot air balloon event is the biggest aviation sports event in the
Philippines.
The festival also features a number of events in skydiving, flag jumps,
micro light and rocketry demonstrations, small plane fly-bys and fly-ins,
remote-control airplane and helicopter flying exhibitions, freestyle aerobatics,
precision maneuvers, light airplane balloon bursting, ultra-light flying
formation and bomb dropping, kite-making and choreographed kite-flying, histart launch gliding, pylon racing, banner towing, aero-modeling symposium
and races between ultra lights and motorcycles. An estimated 60,000 visitors
locally and from around the world come in to see this event.
What began as a passion project has now evolved into the longestrunning sports aviation event in Asia. The fiestas longtime objective is to instill
discipline in participating young pilots so they can develop into safe aviators, as
well as to impart a spirit volunteerism and cooperation to the whole
community.

The fiesta is an opportunity to share and exchange cultures and

traditions with visiting pilots from all over the world. They are given a taste of
Filipino hospitality and the fiesta spirit. We hope that their beautiful
experience becomes the best advertising for Philippine tourism. We also
encourage the visiting pilots to be contributors to chosen beneficiaries of the
foundation.
By creating aviation awareness, educating the young about flying
machines and encouraging people to work from the heart and do things with
passion, we will strive to bring back the Philippine aviation industrys good
standing in the international community.