Phl to hold air talks with Malaysia, Canada, Macau

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is set to hold air talks with Malaysia, Canada, and Macau over the next few months after successfully signing new air agreements with three countries in the first quarter of the year.

Carmelo Arcilla, executive director of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), said in an interview that the scheduled air talks with Malaysia early next month would depend on the developments in the search for the missing Boeing-777 of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

“There is a caveat, they may ask for a deferment because of the developments regarding the missing aircraft of Malaysian Airlines,” he stressed.

Arcilla pointed out that the Philippine air panel is also scheduled to hold air talks with Canada in Manila early in May.

He added that the country is also looking at holding air negotiations with Macau.

 â€œThere is no final schedule yet but we are holding air talks with Canada and Macau,” he said.

The last air talks between the Philippines and Canada was held last May of 2008.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (US-FAA) downgraded the country’s air security rating to Category 2 from Category 1 in January of 2008 after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) failed to meet six out of seven safety standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The rating prevents airlines from the Philippines including national carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) and budget airline Cebu Air Inc. (Cebu Pacific) from increasing its flights to the United States and its territories and from changing the type or increasing the number of aircraft used on these routes.

The rating has also become an issue in air talks with other Western countries although it only applies directly to the flights to the US.

On the other hand, the Philippines signed an air service agreement with Macau in June last year increasing seat entitlements between the two countries by 1,000 per week to 4,500 seats per week from 3,500 seats per week.

The Philippines has successfully concluded air talks New Zealand, Singapore, and France so far this year.

Last year, the Philippines signed new air agreements with Japan, Macau, Brazil, Australia, Israel, and Italy last year.

President Aquino has signed Executive Order 29 authorizing the CAB and the Philippine air panels to pursue more aggressively the international civil aviation liberalization policy.

The Philippine Air Services Negotiating Panel is composed of officials from the CAB, Department of Tourism, Department of Transportation and Communications, and Department of Foreign Affairs, as well as from the Clark International Airport Corp and representatives of Philippine carriers.