Congress to tackle open skies policy

MANILA, Philippines – Congress will tackle proposals for an open skies policy to liberalize air travel in the country.

Valenzuela Representative Rex Gatchalian has filed House Bill 1601 promoting a “pocket open-skies policy” in the country.

Gatchalian said his bill will open only secondary gateways to foreign airlines, but will not include the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, actually a complex of three airports in Manila and the country’s main gateway.

“With 98 percent of the country’s visitor arrivals and 70 percent of the country’s exports moved by air, a rational air transport liberalization strategy would support the vision of the government to promote the country as a tourism, investments and logistics hub,” he said in the bill’s explanatory note.

Opening up the country’s skies will also develop maximum air access to all secondary gateways, although cabotage rights are not allowed under Gatchalian’s bill.

Cabotage traffic rights are defined in the bill as “the right of an airline to carry traffic between two points within the territory of the Philippines on a route that does not originate, make a stopover or terminate outside the said territory.”

President Benigno Aquino III has said Malacañang is looking into the implementation of a partial open skies policy similar to that implemented in the late 1990s when flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) was hit by a crippling strike.

PAL is again beset by labor problems with unions threatening to mount another strike.

Aquino had said preliminary talks are ongoing between the Departments of Transportation and Communications and Tourism with other airlines that could “take up the slot” of PAL.

But Gatchalian said the benefits of an open-skies policy “goes beyond the current PAL crisis.”

“We need this bill because it’s about time that we liberalize our air space to spur growth in tourism arrivals…It is a bill that will make us competitive in the tourism field,” he said in a text message.

Under the bill, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) is mandated to process all applications for air transportation involving any secondary gateway.

“Any domestic route within the territory of the Philippines may, as far as practicable, be operated by at least two domestic air carriers offering scheduled services. The CAB may authorize chartered flights and non-scheduled services to promote the expansion of domestic air traffic,” it said.

The bill also urges the government to create an environment “conducive to open and fair market competition among air carriers operating in the Philippines.” It said that subsidies, VAT exemptions, and other privileges should equally be granted or availed of by all major players in the industry.