US urges Philippines to OK "full open skies"

The United States government has urged the Philippine aviation industry to enter soonest into a "full open skies" agreement with American commercial and cargo carriers, noting that the US airlines are more favorable on providing cabotage privileges to foreign carriers operating in the country.

The Philippine aviation industry should take advantage of the new stand of US airline companies to offer foreign carriers with more liberal aviation terms for their operations in the United States, Manila Bulletin Monday quoted US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Earl Anthony Wayne as saying.

Wayne said US airline companies are now amenable to revising the Philippine-US air agreement to open up more US destinations for Philippine carriers by allowing them to fly within the United States, aside from allowing them to pick up passengers from a third country with the United States as an aviation base.

"Revising our air agreement could open more US destinations to Philippine carriers directly and via code sharing. This would benefit the traveling public and shippers of both countries, and it would provide new opportunities for growth and competitiveness," Wayne said.

Local airline companies, led by Philippine Airlines (PAL), havebeen opposing a full open skies agreement with the US, claiming that a full open skies agreement will be one-sided in favor of US companies as more fuel will be required in flying across states inthe United States than flying from one province to another in the Philippines.

Wayne allayed fears of the Philippine aviation industry, sayinga full open skies agreement "would work to reduce air fares between our two countries and enhance tourism which is a sector ofgreat but unrealized potential in the Philippines."

"We recognize that some in the Philippines believe that they are not ready for open skies. Nevertheless, we think it is time for the US and the Philippines to negotiate a more liberal aviation set of terms to replace the outdated and restrictive rights currently in place," Wayne added.

He also warned that another delay in the forging of a full openskies agreement may cause the Philippines to fall behind its Asiancounterparts in getting a big share of the US market.

"No member of the aviation community could afford to stand still while the rest of the industry is moving ahead--the Philippines needs to act now to become more competitive with its neighbors or it risks falling behind them," Wayne said.

Under the bilateral aviation pact signed in 1982, the two countries committed to an "open skies" policy that would remove frequency, capacity and destination restrictions on each countries' carriers from Oct. 1, 2003.

The Philippines planned but failed to convince the United States to delay the start of the bilateral "open skies" air services agreement for fear of the negative effects on its airlines.

Source: Xinhua