PAL, CebuPac eye flights to Canada

MANILA, Philippines - Budget airline Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific) and flag carrier Philippine Airlines Inc. (PAL) are looking at mounting flights to Canada, documents from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) showed.

The Gokongwei-led Cebu Pacific is beefing up its long-haul routes as it looks at flying seven times a week to Canada.

PAL, jointly owned by taipan Lucio Tan and diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), is seeking seven more weekly flight entitlements to Canada.

The flag carrier currently flies to Canada seven times a week via Vancouver and Toronto.

The Philippines and Canada signed a new air service agreement last May 29.

CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla earlier said the new agreement amended the existing Philippine – Canada Air Services Agreement signed in December 2008 by increasing the frequency entitlement for each country to 14 flights a week from seven flights a week.

Both countries also agreed to increase fifth freedom to five per week from four per week, and to allow airlines from the Philippines and Canada to enter into a third country code sharing.

The fifth freedom rights allow airlines from a resident country to fly passengers to third countries from a country where it has an existing air services agreement.

On the other hand, third-country code-sharing allows airlines to market indirect services between two countries via cooperative agreements with third-country airlines.

The Philippines has so far signed new air agreements with five countries including France last January, Singapore last February, New Zealand last March as well as Myanmar and Canada last May.

Air talks with Malaysia scheduled last April 3 and 4 were called off as authorities in Kuala Lumpur were preoccupied with the search for the missing Beijing bound Malaysia Airline Flight No. MH370.

Last year, the Philippines signed air agreements with Japan, Macau, Brazil, Australia, Israel, and Italy.

The Aquino administration is pursuing air talks as part of its open skies policy. Under Executive Order No. 29, airports other than the Ninoy Aquino International Airport would be opened to more foreign traffic.

Cebu Pacific is in the middle of a $4 billion refleeting program that involves the acquisition of close to 50 aircraft. It has a fleet of 50 Airbus aircraft consisting of 10 Airbus A319, 30 A320, four A330, and eight ATR-72 500 aircraft.

It is scheduled to take delivery of 11 more Airbus A320, 30 A321neo, and two Airbus A330 aircraft between this year and 2021.

Cebu Pacific is gearing up for possible flights to the US, particularly Hawaii and Guam after the US Federal Aviation Administration (US-FAA) upgraded the safety rating of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) back to Category 1 last April 9 after being downgraded to Category 2 in January of 2008.

The company is also looking at flying to London, Paris, and Amsterdam after the European Union lifted a ban preventing the low cost carrier from entering the European airspace early last month.

On the other hand, PAL is in the middle of a massive fleet renewal program aimed at acquiring 100 brand new aircraft. It booked an order for 65 Airbus aircraft worth $9.5 billion from the EADS Group.