In 1956, the Philippine Airlines Pilots Union (ALPAP), composed of over two hundred former Philippine Air Force and U.S. Air Force pilots, requested a subdivision from the Ayala Corporation. Through the efforts of Capt. Antonio O'Brien, who was then the President of ALPAP, and with the support of his friend Col. McMicking, Phase I of Bel-Air Village was opened in 1957 at the price of fifteen pesos per square meter for pilots and thirty pesos per square meter for non-pilots. Bel-Air Village officially became the third subdivision to be developed by the Ayala Corporation. Capt. O'Brien chose the name Bel-Air as the pilots wanted a name that included the word "air."