Help urged for air industry

Tourism and travel executives have asked the government to come out with a position on how to help the local aviation industry which is reeling from losses following last month’s terrorist attacks in the United States.

The Network of Independent Travel Agencies (NITAS) said that while many foreign governments have acted swiftly to help their airlines by crafting rescue packages to save them from expected bankruptcies, Philippine authorities have been slow in assisting local airlines.

"Local airlines are being left to fend for themselves," said NITAS president Robert Lim Joseph.

He said in Asia alone, the governments of Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong are actively helping their national carriers.

He said the local aviation industry is facing imminent collapse with no help forthcoming from the government. "The consequences to the economy will be terrible once the local aviation industry collapses," Joseph warned.

He said there are already strong indications local airlines are feeling the pinch of the aviation crisis worldwide. "Philippine Airlines has suspended its planned lease of additional Boeing 747 aircraft, while Cebu Pacific has delayed its scheduled international flights," he said.

Joseph said fueling their worries are the job cuts and reduced flights being implemented by airlines worldwide, including such mega carriers as American Airlines, United Airlines, Continental Airlines, British Airways and Qantas.

"If these mega carriers are reeling from the terrorist attacks in the US, how much more our local airlines," he pointed out. It does not help, he said, that some government officials are pushing for policies detrimental to the local airline industry.

Joseph criticized the Freedom to Fly Coalition’s proposal to open Philippine skies to foreign carriers as this would be detrimental to the local aviation industry, dislocating tourism- and travel-related businesses.

He stressed that the government should work towards protecting local industries instead of being carried away by the empty promises of globalization. "We should protect our local industries first to save our own labor force."

He added that the tourism and travel industries are not even represented in the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) despite being the major sectors affected by any aviation policy.