Cebu Pacific chief: No problem with ‘open skies’ for Manila

MANILA, Philippines – Philippines’ largest domestic carrier, sees no problem in opening up Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport to airlines from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (As

MANILA, Philippines – Philippines’ largest domestic carrier, sees no problem in opening up Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport to airlines from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member-states.

Cebu Pacific Air CEO Lance Gokongwei said that the flag carrier “fully supports the ratification of the Asean Open Skies multilateral agreement, which allows designated Asean carriers to operate unlimited flights between capital airports.”

He, likewise, pointed out: “To date, the Philippines is the only Asean state that has not ratified the ‘open skies’ agreement on capital cities.”

The open-skies agreement on capital cities is embodied in Protocols 5 and 6 of the 2009 Multilateral Agreement on Air Services (MAAS), which gives Asean flag carriers unlimited third, fourth and fifth freedom rights to operate between capital cities

The Asean-Single Aviation Market (Asam) takes effect in December 2015, when Asean fully integrates into one economic community.

Public and private tourism leaders in the country have been encouraging the Aquino administration to ratify the open-skies agreement to further boost foreign visitor arrivals not only in Asean, but in the Philippines, as well. The Philippines is targetting the arrival of 10 million foreign tourists in 2016. Asean projects its visitor arrivals to surge to over 160 million by 2025, from some 100 million in 2015.

The Civil Aeronautics Board has already recommended to President Aquino the approval of Protocols 5 and 6 of the MAAS, but he has yet to sign the document ratifying the open-skies agreement. Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya earlier said the government was keen on ratifying the agreement, but the Department of Foreign Affairs wants to modify the ratification document to clarify that the Naia would be open to foreign carriers, “subject to slots in Manila”

The Aquino administration had been arguing that congested runways and terminals at the Naia and lack of airport slots as some of the reasons to keep protecting Manila from Asean carriers. This stance is supported by pioneering flag carrier Philippine Airlines.

The government has agreed, though, to open up secondary cities to Asean carriers. This would include Clark, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Kalibo, to name a few.

The Asean open-skies agreement guarantees third, fourth and fifth freedom rights to Asean carriers. Third and fourth freedom rights allow carriers to fly from their home country to another foreign country, sans government approval.

Fifth freedom rights allows any carrier to fly between two foreign countries during flights originating or ending in said airline’s home country. The 10 members of the Asean are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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