Phl, Singapore sign air agreement

MANILA, Philippines - The government has signed its first air agreement for this year opening up more commercial opportunities for the airlines of the Philippines and Singapore through higher seat entitlements and limit on the frequencies, as well as additional co-terminal points.

Carmelo Arcilla, executive director of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), said in a text message that a new Memorandum of Understanding on Air Services was signed by the Philippines and Singapore last Friday.

“Overall, the agreement opens up more commercial opportunities for the airlines of the two countries,” he said.

Arcilla pointed out that the new air pact increased the current capacity entitlements between Manila and Singapore by 7.1 percent to 18,888 seats per week for each country from the current 17,627 seats per week.

Likewise, the list of co-terminal points for the Singaporean carrier that currently includes Cebu, Davao, and Puerto Princesa was expanded to include Iloilo and Bacolod.

“It means that Singaporean carriers can fly to Cebu for example and then proceed to Davao,” he said.

According to him, both the Philippines and Singapore also agreed to increase the limit on the frequencies for 5th freedom to 10 per week from eight per week. Fifth freedom rights refer to the right to fly passengers to third countries from a country with which an airline’s resident country has an outstanding air services agreement.

“This means that a Singaporean carrier for example can operate a route that starts from Singapore to Manila and proceeds to Osaka, 10 times a week,” he added.

Arcilla said both countries also agreed on third country code sharing allowing airlines of the two countries to collaborate with airlines from third countries in marketing services between the Philippines and Singapore.

Tourist arrivals in the Philippines inched up 2.3 percent to 3.95 million from January to October last year compared to 3.86 million in the same period in 2013.