PH plans air talks with Jordan

The Philippines is eyeing air talks with Jordan within the year in a bid to strengthen diplomatic ties, a government official said.

Carmelo Arcilla, executive director of the Civil Aeronautics Board, said in an interview that Jordan had invited the Philippines for talks mainly aimed at strengthening bilateral relations.

“We might have talks by December,” Arcilla said.

He explained that negotiations would focus on building commercial arrangements. But these could eventually pave the way for direct flights between the two countries.

Arcilla said the upcoming talks with Jordan would be similar in nature to Morocco, with whom the Philippines recently negotiated an Air Services Agreement.

The agreement opens the prospect for carriers to mount daily flights between the two territories.

Arcilla said there were no imediate plans for carriers from both sides to start direct flights. But he said this would be possible moving forward given the growing number of Filipino workers in Morocco.

He said the Philippine also plans to establish an embassy in Morocco by 2020.

Moreover, the Philippines and Morocco signed a memorandum of understanding granting full third and fourth freedom traffic rights for both passenger and cargo and setting out other operational details for their respective designated carriers.

This is the country’s seventh air service agreement in Africa.

This will also provide options for carriers seeking to expand their operations in the region.

The Philippines was earlier seeking talks with Saudi Arabia to use the latter’s airspace for flights to Tel Aviv, Israel. This would cut flying time from Manila by more than an hour, making it more feasible for domestic airlines. So far, no progress has been made on those efforts.