THE Philippines and South Korea have signed a new agreement to expand their international air services allowing airlines to carry more passengers between the two countries.
Following the successful air talks between the delegations of the Philippines and Korea on July 4, governments of both countries inked a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) that improves the last one signed in 2017.
The two countries agreed to expand the current 20,000 weekly seats each from Manila to points in Korea and vice versa, to 30,000 weekly seat capacity exclusively for the Manila-Incheon route.
Under the new MOU, the two countries also impose no limits on flights from Manila to all other points in Korea. Flights from points outside Manila to all points in Korea continue to be open and without limits.
South Korea has been the top tourism market of the Philippines since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The post-pandemic recovery is positively impacting the economy, with incoming Korean tourists already at 682,362 as of May 2024, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).
The increase in capacity will be felt by the market once airlines take advantage of the opportunity to carry more passenger traffic between the capital cities of the two countries.
Meanwhile, citing the mandate of the amended Public Services Act, the Philippine delegation proposed an amendment to the two countries’ air transport agreement that would allow the Philippines to designate its airlines on the basis of the airline having its principal place of business and place of incorporation in the Philippines.
Though an agreement on the matter was not reached, the two delegations agreed to further discuss the same, along with Korea’s proposal to allow third country code-sharing arrangements, in the next round of consultations.
Leading the Philippine delegation was Department of Transportation assistant secretary for aviation and airports Enrique Antonio Esquivel III, who was joined by Civil Aeronautics Board executive director Carmelo Arcilla and DOT undersecretary Shahlimar Hofer Tamano.
