Japan, Korea yet to act on Phl request for add’l flights

MANILA, Philippines - The governments of Japan and South Korea have yet to lift a ban preventing domestic airlines from the Philippines from mounting additional flights to Tokyo and Seoul despite the decision of a unit of the United Nations to lift the country’s remaining significant security concerns.

John Andrews, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), said in an interview with reporters that both Japan and South Korea have yet to respond to the country’s request for the lifting of the restrictions imposed on local airlines as the Philippines already passed the safety audit conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organization from Feb. 18 to 22.

“They have not replied officially yet but I think the ICAO is also going to be writing them,” Andrews said referring to the letters sent to South Korea’s Office of Civil Aviation deputy director Hye-Ryong Yu and International Transport at Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau director Hirohishi Narahira last March 5.

It would be recalled that both Japan and South Korea cited the significant safety concerns rating of ICAO on the Philippines to block the entry of new flights by airlines registered in the Philippines.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) announced Satuday that ICAO has officially delisted the Philippines from its tally of member states with unresolved significant safety concerns.

In an electronic bulletin issued by the ICAO Council on March 7, the ICAO Council formally stated that the [Philippine] state has implemented corrective actions in accordance with the mechanism approved by the Council to resolve two significant safety concerns – the issuance of air operator certificates and the aircraft registration process – and that as a result, these significant security concerns have been lifted.

Andrews pointed out that both Japan and South Korea should adopt the recent findings of the ICAO as Tokyo and Seoul are also signatories of the ICAO protocols.

“We are all signatories to the ICAO protocols,” he said.

Data from the Department of Tourism showed that the number of tourists that visited the Philippines increased nine percent to 4.27 million last year from 3.92 million. South Korea emerged as the major source of visitors with 1.03 million for a 24.1 percent share while Japan ranked third with 412,474 for a share of 9.65 percent.

With the delisting, CAAP is now focusing on convincing the US Federal Aviation Administration (US-FAA) to upgrade the ranking of the Philippines to Category 1 after it was downgraded to Category 2 in 2008 due to significant safety concerns raised by ICAO.

Furthermore, the 27-member European Commission decided in April 2010 to impose a ban Philippine carriers from European airspace for the failure of the CAAP to reform the country’s civil aviation system.