Triangulated flights may help raise number of arriving international passengers

MANILA, Philippines — Triangulated flights may help raise the number of arriving international passengers, but airlines see these as only a temporary solution to the real problem, which is the daily quota.

Foreign and local airlines, subject to the approval of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), will be able to mount triangulated flights in the hopes of addressing the need of Filipinos who are stranded abroad or who want to go home, but are unable to do so yet due to ongoing capacity restrictions on arriving international passengers in the country, primarily in Manila.

“The goal of this triangulated flight concept is to maximize our quarantine facilities that are not just located in Manila, but also in other places like Cebu, Davao, and Clark. Then there’s also a limitation of 2,000 passenger arrival in Manila given that the utilization of our quarantine facilities in Manila are high,” CAB legal officer Jojo Polinga told The STAR.

“Because they cannot be accommodated in Manila and given that there are a lot of OFWs stranded in different parts, mostly in the Middle East, then comes the triangulated flights concept wherein passengers or OFWs may fly home to the Philippines, but instead of Manila wherein only a few can be accommodated, they will have to go first to a quarantine destination, which could be Cebu, Clark, Davao or any other location wherein there is available quarantine facility,” he said.

As an example, a flight from Riyadh originally bound for Manila that has only been allocated a maximum of 50 passengers a day under existing restrictions can now carry 350 more passengers and triangulate in Cebu.

The 350 can disembark in Cebu, while the remaining 50 will then proceed to the original destination, which is Manila. All passengers in both destinations will undergo normal quarantine as per the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Polinga said the CAB would authorize flights on a provisional basis and from countries where there is a large number of OFWs.

The IATF, in a resolution released last week, recognized the jurisdiction and mandate of the CAB over air rights agreements in the Philippines under existing laws.

The IATF said it poses no objection to the proposal of the Airline Operators Council, an organization of foreign and local airlines, for triangulated international arrival flights to different Philippine gateways, which the CAB may approve on a per airline basis.

“The triangulated flight concept is the same as operating co-terminal rights, which are existing in air services agreements between the Philippines and some of our bilateral partner countries. However, this triangulated flight concept now is founded on necessity, again to maximize our quarantine hotels outside of Manila so we can augment the repatriation efforts for our OFWs,” Polinga said.

Aside from putting to good use available quarantine facilities in places outside Metro Manila, the CAB official said another benefit of the concept is that it will cater to more international arrivals.

“Of course, the actual figures that any airline can land in quarantine destinations will depend on the number of available quarantine facilities,” Polinga

Airlines have been clamoring for the increase or removal of the 2,000 daily arrival cap on international passengers in airports such as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.

The 2,000 quota is shared across airlines, with some flights bound to Manila allocated only a maximum of 50 passengers a day.

Air Carriers Association of the Philippines (ACAP) executive director Bobby Lim said these quotas are the ones that are the real problem.

“The triangulated flights, as an interim measure or as a supplement, will help increase international arrivals to the Philippines, but it would still be more expensive because you are involving an additional destination, which is a quarantine destination, before arriving to your ultimate destination,” Air Carriers Association of the Philippines (ACAP) executive director Bobby Lim told The STAR.

“It is beneficial because you are able to go around the quota, but the problem is the quota, because most of the flights to the Philippines is still Manila,” he said.

Lim said the main solution ACAP is recommending the government is to increase the daily arrival quota in Manila, as well as in all international gateways.

Lim said one way of doing this is by exempting in the 2,000 daily quota the vaccinated passengers who have undergone a pre-departure testing 72 hours before departure at point of origin, and who will be subjected to a shorter quarantine period when they arrive in the country and be subjected to another PCR test before they exit quarantine.

“The issue we are trying to resolve is we want to open the economy safely so we need also to relax (restrictions). And because we have a vaccination that is being rolled out, we have doses arriving, and everybody accepts and admits that vaccination protects, so we should also adjust our border control policy,” he said.