THE Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) plans to conduct air talks with 10 countries including the United States, to allow airlines add more flights and expand to new international destinations.
The CAB is looking at conducting air talks with the governments of the US, Australia, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Ethiopia, India, Oman and Seychelles.
“Through these air talks, we intend to open new international routes or add more flight frequencies on existing routes to provide travelers flexibility in going to more international destinations while attracting drones of foreign tourists to explore the country,” Jaime Bautista, Department of Transportation (DOTr) secretary, said in his speech at the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Aviation Summit.
DOTr, through the CAB, is also looking at expanding to new routes in the US.
Currently, local carriers can only operate in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle. Bautista said the country could expand to other routes.
“We can identify more gateways where the Philippine carriers can operate,” Bautista said.
Last July, the Philippine and Korean governments signed a new agreement to expand their international air services.
The two counties agreed to expand the current up to 20,000 weekly seats each from Manila to points in Korea and vice versa, to 30,000 weekly seat capacity exclusively for the Manila to Incheon route and vice versa.
Under the new agreement, the two countries also imposed no limits on flights from Manila to all other points in Korea. Flights from ports outside Manila to all points in Korea continue to be open and without limits.
Meanwhile, Bautista said the country is poised to become a leading regional player in the aviation sector by 2028.
The sector’s major transformation is fueled by increased investment and private sector involvement in crucial areas like infrastructure, human capital and sustainable development.
“The Philippine aviation industry is on the cusp of a significant transformation,” Bautista said.
Apart from modernizing and upgrading the country’s major airports, such as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the transport chief cited critical initiatives of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, including the upgrading of the country’s air navigation management system.
Further upgrades and improvements in Communications, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management systems will be undertaken next month with help from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Bautista added.
He said the Philippines can “finally catch up on the significant under-investment in airport development over the years.”
The rehabilitation and modernization of airports will lead to an increase in passenger capacity, while generating employment and tourist arrivals.
Other airports lined up for modernization include those in Tuguegarao, Bacon, Loakan, Daet, Cauayan, Vigan and Candon.
In Visayas and Mindanao, airports for improvement are Catbalogan, Dumaguete, Kabankalan and Calbayog as well as those in Zamboanga, Mati, M’lang, Jolo, Siargao and Tandag.
