South Africa, HK air talks set
The Philippines has scheduled a series of air rights negotiations with South Africa, Malaysia and Hong Kong over the next two months while lining up discussions with three other jurisdictions, including Australia, as part of efforts to boost tourism and trade, a government official said on Monday.
Civil Aeronautics Board executive director Carmelo Arcilla said in an interview that talks with South Africa were up next on Aug. 12 to 13. This will be followed by discussions with Malaysia from Aug. 27 to 28 and then Hong Kong from Oct. 14 to 15, Arcilla said.
The discussions are mainly aimed at increasing seat entitlements, Arcilla said, amid a boom in air travel, partly aided by the aggressive expansion of low cost carriers.
Flights to Hong Kong, in particular, were especially attractive to domestic carriers like Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air and AirAsia Zest, their respective officials had said, in part due to its proximity to the Philippines and its large population of Filipino workers.
Arcilla noted that they were also targeting to hold talks to increase flight frequencies to Taiwan.
Air talks with Indonesia are being eyed in the second semester, Arcilla said, but like Taiwan, no definite schedule has been set as of the moment.
Arcilla added that the second half of 2014 would be a good opportunity to restart air talks with Australia, after these did not result in any fresh deal last year.
The move also comes as Cebu Pacific Air, the country’s biggest budget airline, is set to start its inaugural service to Sydney in September.
“We are targeting talks with Australia but right now, there is not schedule yet,” Arcilla said. The Philippines last held discussions with Australia in June 2013, with the aim of doubling seat entitlements from 6,000 a week.
Sealing new air deals would help the Philippines achieve its goal of drawing about 10 million international tourists a year by 2016, from 4.7 million visitors last year.
