EDITORIAL - Now sustain it

On the heels of the lifting of a European Union ban on Philippine carriers, the US Federal Aviation Administration announced yesterday it had restored the country’s Category 1 status. The FAA move will allow Philippine carriers to fly to more US destinations.

The return to Category 1 followed a review last month by the FAA of Philippine compliance with global safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. In January 2008, the Philippines lost its Category 1 rating after a review showed non-compliance with certain standards set by ICAO. With the ICAO citing “significant safety concerns,” the FAA downgraded the Philippines to Category 2. Two years later, the FAA downgrade prompted the EU to ban Philippine carriers from entering European airspace.

The downgrade and EU ban were bad news not only to Philippine carriers but also to Filipino travelers, who had fewer choices for direct flights to key destinations, and to the country’s tourism industry in general. The industry’s woes were compounded by the end of direct flights to Europe as foreign carriers protested against fees and other charges that they considered discriminatory. Without direct flights, many tourists from Europe skipped Manila, heading for the Southeast Asian mainland linking several destinations such as Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia without proceeding to the Philippines.

The foreign carriers’ concerns are being addressed. With the lifting of the EU ban and the restoration of Category 1, Philippine carriers can step in and help bring more foreign visitors to the Philippines.

The FAA restored Category 1 status after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines addressed ICAO’s significant safety concerns. The Philippines has seen the consequences of failure to comply with international safety standards. Now the challenge is to sustain Category 1. As the nation has seen, the positive rating can be lost, and it can be a costly, tortuous struggle to regain it.