KLM Royal Dutch Airlines—the only European airline still operating in the Philippines—has announced the addition of two new destinations for flights out of Manila following the recent removal of “discriminatory” taxes on foreign carriers.
In a statement, KLM, owned by Paris-based French-Dutch holding company Air France/KLM, said it would start offering daily flights from Manila to Manston, Kent in the United Kingdom starting April 3. On April 4, the company will also start offering flights from Manila to Alesund, Norway.
Flights from Manila to both cities connect via Taipei, Taiwan. The two new destinations add to KLM’s Manila-Amsterdam flights that are also served out of Taipei.
KLM said its new destination in the UK offers “travellers an attractive tourist destination as well as a hassle-free airport in the proximity of London.” Manston will be KLM’s 14th destination in the UK.
The airline likewise said Alesund, its seventh destination in Norway, had a fast-growing market owing to its expanding outsourcing industry. “It is also an interesting tourist destination,” KLM said.
The airline said the addition of new destinations that can be accessed by travellers from Manila was the company’s “first step towards the joint goal with the Department of Tourism of bringing more tourists to the Philippines.”
The company’s renewed optimism in the country follows the removal of common carriers tax and gross Philippine billings duties imposed on revenues of foreign airlines for passenger traffic from the Philippines.
The removal of the said taxes, under Republic Act No. 10374, was signed into law by President Aquino last March.
These taxes were cited by Air France/KLM in 2011 when it halted its direct flights from Manila to Amsterdam. The company said the two taxes made the Philippine market significantly less profitable than flights to other destinations in Southeast Asia.
The said service was the country’s last direct flight to any point in Europe. Its removal capped the gradual exit of European airlines from the Philippine market over the last decade, partly as a result of these taxes, but mainly due to competition from Middle Eastern carriers.
Competition for passenger traffic between the Philippines and Europe, currently dominated by Middle Eastern carriers, is expected to get more intense as locals’ Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific expand their long-haul operations.
Both airlines have announced plans to fly to several European destinations using brand new and more fuel efficient aircraft. Paolo G. Montecillo