Europe open on air pact with Phl – Binay

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Jejomar Binay said yesterday that Europe is interested in forging an air safety agreement with the Philippines once the European Union ban on Philippine air carriers is lifted.

Binay, who has just returned from a 15-day visit to Belgium, Luxemburg, the Vatican and Israel, said he had met with European Commission Vice President and Commissioner for Transport Siik Kallas during the 7th European Development Days (EDD) in Brussels to discuss the current EU ban on Philippine air carriers.

He said Kallas told him that EU’s main issue with the Philippines was “maintaining the professionalism and regularity of air safety inspections.”

“I informed the commissioner that the Philippines had sought technical assistance from the French government to improve air safety standards, and that Philippine Airlines, now under new management, had just ordered 54 Airbus aircraft in line with its re-fleeting program,” Binay said.

The Vice President said he assured Kallas that the government was taking the air carrier ban issue very seriously and was already in the process of instituting critical reforms to improve the country’s air safety standards.

“I even mentioned the fact that the Philippines would be receiving an ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)-coordinated validation mission on Oct. 24 to 28 to assess the improvements made thus far,” Binay said.

He clarified that the ban applied to both EU and non-EU carriers.

“The commissioner said these bans were not meant to discriminate against non-EU carriers since European carriers were not immune from the same if they failed to meet the EU’s strict air safety standards,” he said.

Binay said the EC has banned Philippine carriers from operating in all 27 member-states of the EU since 2010.

According to Philippine Airlines, the ban was caused by the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) decision in January 2008 to downgrade the country’s safety rating to Category 2 and “significant safety concern” findings by the ICAO in November 2009 against local aviation safety regulators.

There has been no commercial flight by Philippine-registered carriers to Europe since 1999.