Philippines-Korea air talks: What gives?

There seems to be a sudden rush to negotiate a new Philippines-Korea aviation agreement, with the Philippines hosting the Korean aviation panel for the two-day bilateral air talks starting today at Puerto Princesa in Palawan. In 2012, the Philippines and Korea signed a very liberal air agreement giving both sides the right to fly up to 57,000 seats per week or almost 3 million seats per year. Currently, Korean and Philippine carriers fly about 40,000 seats a week or about 35 flights per day – equivalent to about 2.1 million seats a year – which means there is almost one million available capacity that is underutilized.

So why then is the Philippines – specifically the Department of Tourism – so keen on initiating new air talks (we’re told the Koreans didn’t ask for the talks) to replace the existing agreement with a new one that would increase frequencies and give additional seat entitlements?

Besides, why this should be done at a time when congestion at the NAIA continues to get worse – almost fatal in some instances as some aircraft were made to wait flying in circles for hours under inclement weather conditions since they could not yet land due to congestion – escapes many. In fact, an Etihad flight had to be diverted to Clark because NAIA could not accommodate it – leaving passengers trapped in the aircraft for more than 10 hours.

The upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit will make the gridlock even worse, aside from the fact that local carriers Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific will lose a lot of revenues since they have cancelled more than 350 local and international flights to accommodate the arrival of delegates and heads of state from 21 countries.

While it is true Koreans comprise the biggest number of foreign tourists to the country, observers tell us the Philippines will gain nothing from a new deal because the Korean airlines don’t need additional rights to bring in more tourists – what they are eyeing are bigger access to the Filipino travel market to the US.

Perhaps the Philippine air panel should be reeducated – Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have a huge home base at Seoul Incheon airport which is located squarely on the flight paths between the US mainland and Southeast Asia. Incheon is like a giant funneling machine that allows Korean airlines to suck in passengers from the US to the Philippines, exploiting a major geographic and infrastructure advantage to plunder a Philippine market, observers noted.

According to industry data, for every Korean Air flight that leaves Manila, an average of three seats are filled by Filipinos bound for the US as against every single seat filled by a Korean tourist visiting the Philippines. Clearly, this is a lopsided equation that disadvantages our own carriers. PAL has just opened flights to New York and added more flights to California, while Cebu Pacific will soon open a route to Hawaii and eventually to other US destinations. Will they now be left in the lurch just to give more concessions to Korean carriers? 

Insiders suspect the air talks is a diversionary tactic to deflect from all the negative news generated by the “tanim bala” controversy, and to take attention away from the fact the projected 10 million target tourists for 2016 has been greatly reduced to six million. The DOT is also hard pressed to fulfill its target of 5.5 million visitors this year since according to data, they would need about 1.9 million visitors from September to year-end to reach the target.

If the Philippine air panel is bent on having a new agreement, then they should make sure our carriers are not left at a disadvantage. They should demand fifth freedom rights for our flag carriers so they can also use Incheon airport to scoop up Korean travelers flying to the US. Let PAL and Cebu Pacific give the Korean air carriers a run for their money in their own turf and in their own markets. Additionally, the DOT should demand Filipinos be allowed to travel visa-free to the whole of Korea and not just to the small island of Jeju.

SCTEX deal a ‘road changer’

Finally, things are starting to move with the Public Private Partnership program now that the Bases Conversion Development Authority has finally turned over the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway contract to the Manila North Tollways Corp. Half of the projected earnings of P275 billion for the 28-year deal will go to BCDA to pay-off the P25 billion loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency as well as to finance other government projects.

Records show that as of November last year, the number of vehicles using SCTEX surpassed 10 million or 13 percent higher than 2013, while gross revenues hit P1.1 billion in the first nine months of 2015 and could reach P1.5 billion.  MNTC for its part plans to spend P1.5 billion on the rehabilitation of SCTEX in the next three years and will shoulder the P700-million cost of integrating the expressway, with the 83.7-kilometer North Luzon Expressway with full integration expected by Holy Week 2016. As BCDA president Arnel Casanova noted, the project is a “road changer” that will lead to seamless travel for Luzon motorists.

‘Tanim bala’ goes viral

The “tanim bala” controversy has really gone viral with the issue landing us in international news networks again albeit for embarrassing reasons. As usual, Filipino humor comes into play with memes posted and reposted in social media sites. Among the popular ones show US President Barack Obama holding a bullet and reminding everyone not to forget their souvenirs from the Philippines which they can get for free from the airport. OFWs also show up at the airport with mock bandoliers while some, like the man in the photo, take pains to carry a giant replica of a bullet to drive home his message.

***

Email: [email protected]