[ Manila Bulletin Online ] March 11, 2008
By DANNY JUNCO
The Save Our Skies (SOS) group of local air carriers has appealed to the government to be fair to them and give them equal opportunity to compete with foreign airlines servicing the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark, Pampanga.
In a speech during the First Central Luzon Tourism Development Conference sponsored by the League of Tourism Students during its first anniversary celebration at the Holy Angel University in Angeles City, Pampanga, Robert Lim Joseph, SOS president, said there is nothing wrong with the open-skies policy as long as this is not one-sided in favor of foreign airlines.
Joseph made clear the SOS’ position as it opposed the government’s plan to issue Executive Order No. 500-B which would grant outright, one-sided and unlimited air rights to foreign carriers flying into the DMIA and Subic Bay International Airport in Subic, Zambales.
"We should not give our air rights to foreign carriers for free," Joseph said.
Local government unit (LGU) representatives, members of the academe, student leaders, the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS)-Pampanga and some hotel representatives were unanimous in supporting the review of EO 500-A for its legal infirmities and were against the proposed EO 500-B for its lopsidedness in favor of foreign airlines.
Some Pampanga student leaders raised the possibility that there could be monetary consideration in the crafting of and efforts to push the proposed EO 500-B.
Joseph said the proposed EO 500-B will give foreign airlines not officially designated by their home countries the right to fly to DMIA and SBIA without any restrictions.
On the other hand, Philippine carriers still need to seek access rights from the governments of these foreign airlines before they could mount flights to their countries.
"What is happening is that foreign governments do not give Philippine carriers access rights because they do not have the incentive anymore to grant such rights as they already got what they want from the Philippine government on a silver platter," he said.
Joseph said what is worse is that these foreign airlines can easily fly to a third country while Philippine carriers still have to fight for such privilege from foreign governments.
Under E0 500-B, Hong Kong-based airlines can fly without restrictions from Hong Kong to Clark then proceed to another country. Philippine carriers, however, cannot do this because they still have to negotiate for access rights with Hong Kong and the third country.
He said tourism could not be used as a reason to declare open skies in Clark and Subic because most of the foreign carriers now servicing the routes do not really bring in the tourists.
He said most of the passengers patronizing the budget airlines now operating in Clark are Filipinos taking advantage of the supposed low fares.
Joseph asked if there is really a market in these areas, why are the more than 50 foreign airlines with rights to fly to Clark not utilizing their entitlements.
He also lamented the fact that while Philippines ‘carriers are privately-owned companies investing huge amount of money to develop markets and routes, most Asian airlines are government-owned.
