PAL grants discounts for official government travel

MANILA, Philippines – Officials on local business travel will now be granted discounts and other perks under an agreement between the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL).

An initial 23 national government agencies can now avail of discounts for both economy and business domestic travel with PAL beginning next month, the DBM said in a statement yesterday.

This, in turn, would result into minimum savings of P1.35 billion annually, the agency said.

“As part of the government’s common requirement which we will aggregate, we can purchase domestic airline tickets faster and easier,” said JoseTomas Syquia, executive director of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS).

PhilGEPS is the government’s main procurement agency and portal. Previously, agencies avail of cash advances to purchase airline tickets.

Under the agreement, an eight-percent reduction on ticket for economy class and 10 percent for business class will be granted.

The partnership will also waive ticket processing fees worth P250, rebooking fees and provide additional baggage allowance for state officials on official travel.

Based on DBM estimates, the eight-percent discount alone could save P830.93 million, while cancelled processing fees will result into an excess of P519.38 million.

For 2016, the government has allotted P10.3 billion for domestic airline travel.

“(We) found that airline tickets ranked as a one of the top commonly-required item in the procurement activities of government agencies,” Syquia said in the statement.

In a text message, DBM public information unit said there are no plans yet to expand the partnership for international travel.