PH, France approve new flight frequency deal

The Philippines and France agreed to increase flights between them as the first round of air talks this year was successfully concluded this week, an official of the Civil Aeronautics Board said.

CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla said late Wednesday that there would now be seven weekly flights available between Manila and France from the previous maximum of four, which flag carrier Philippine Airlines had used until it stopped servicing this route in 1998.

There is at present no direct flight between the Philippines and France and it is still uncertain how soon local carriers can start using the fresh entitlements.

Philippine Airlines, now managed by conglomerate San Miguel Corp., is the only domestic carrier allowed to fly to Europe.

Plans for France remain under study and would depend on the market, San Miguel president Ramon Ang said Thursday. Budget carrier Cebu Pacific Air said earlier it was seeking approval to fly to Europe.

Arcilla said the seven weekly flights was lower than the 14 flights the Philippines had sought. “This (seen weekly flights) is the limit that the French are willing to agree for now.” He nevertheless branded the talks as “successful.”

“If we can have seven flights a week between Manila and Paris for both Philippine and French carriers, that can help promote the interest of travel and tourism, that would be a major leap,” Arcilla said.

France is the second European country that the Philippines had sought to update air service agreements with since a multi-year ban on local carriers flying to the continent was lifted in July last year.

The Philippines last September also negotiated more flights with Italy.

Apart from increased flight frequency, the Philippines also agreed on the so-called third country code sharing specifically for Air France and Netherlands-based Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V., or KLM, on the Paris-Manila via Amsterdam route, Arcilla said.

“This means Air France can operate from Paris to Manila via Amsterdam, using KLM as operating carrier,” Arcilla said.

He noted that Philippine carriers could enter into third country code sharing deal on the Manila-Paris route with any South East or East Asian airline.

Arcilla noted the CAB was lining up air talks within the quarter with Singapore and New Zealand.