Open skies eyed to boost tourism

By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated August 20, 2010 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino is seriously considering an open skies policy to reverse civil aviation policies that Malacañang officials said have been hampering tourism development.
“It’s about time that we assess (the situation) and to have more relaxed rules for the country to grow,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said yesterday.
The move will allow foreign carriers to service the routes of Philippine Airlines (PAL) if the management and personnel of the flag carrier fail to resolve their labor disputes.

Aquino cited the perennial labor problems besetting PAL. He stressed the riding public should not be held hostage by these disputes.

Mr. Aquino said he would consider the interest of the public in general as against the corporate interests of a single corporation.

Coloma reiterated the President’s call on the PAL management and its workers to consider national interest since the public would be affected by their actions.

Although an open skies policy could affect PAL and other local carriers, Coloma stressed its benefits could boost tourism and the economy.

The President had cited as an example the tourism in Bali where the number of tourists increased after the aviation policies were relaxed in Indonesia.

He stressed the present aviation policy should be reevaluated.

“The problem of our tourism industry is that there only few flights entering the country,” Mr. Aquino said.

“They are very few because (airline industry) is regulated in terms of the entry of other carriers. If we open, then entries will increase,” Coloma added.

PAL, for its part, welcomed the proposal of adopting an open skies policy.

“The President’s pronouncement is a wake-up call for both PAL management and its cabin crew union to immediately solve (its labor) impasse. We hear the President’s call that we must find solutions to avoid any inconvenience to the riding public,” PAL president Jaime Bautista said.
“Let’s make it clear: PAL is not against open skies. We just want it to be fair, reciprocal and its implementation should be phased-in and calibrated,” he said.

Bautista added the open skies should be viewed in the context of available infrastructure like the country’s congested airport runways and overburdened terminals.

He said these factors contributed to the country’s negative image abroad as a premier tourist destination.

Bautista also called to expand the capacity of other airports in the country to accommodate more flights and promote tourism in the countryside.

More support

Other groups and sectors also expressed their support for the open skies policy.

Ruperto Cruz of the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) said the open skies policy could even benefit overseas Filipino workers aside from boosting local tourism.

“It’s a long-delayed justice for the hundreds of thousands of OFWs who would benefit from cheaper and direct flights from the places they work abroad.

It is also an act dismantling virtual aviation monopoly that has shackled national interest for so long,” Cruz said.

Cruz said their group had been pushing to adopt an open skies policy since 1994 proposing the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) as “the future site of the country’s premiere international airport.”

“It is unfortunate that air access to the Philippines is not only inadequate. It is severely limited by an antiquated regulatory policy that seeks to preserve certain advantages for a select few at the expense of those who need to fly,” he said.

The Federated Association of Manpower Exporters (FAME) and The Center for Strategic Initiatives also expressed support for more liberalized open skies policy.

They said the open skies policy would address the problems of delay in the deployment of workers because of the shortage of flights to the Middle East.

Officials of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) operating the DMIA also expressed support for a more liberal policy in the aviation industry.

CIAC executive vice president Alex Cauguiran said the adoption of open skies policy would result in increased tourist arrivals.

Affordable Air Access Alliance-OFW Sector (4A’s), an alliance of overseas Filipino workers (OFW), headed by Arnel de Guzman, also expressed their support for the plan.

De Guzman said an open skies policy “would allow millions of Filipino workers in the Middle East cheaper access to air fares being granted by various air carriers.”

“There are about 1.8 million overseas Filipino workers mostly coming from Central and Northern Luzon. The closest airport in the area is DMIA in the Clark Freeport,” De Guzman said.
The Clark Investors and Locators Association (CILA) said the present aviation policy restricted foreign airlines at DMIA to only the third and fourth international freedom rights of air carriers.
They said the restrictive air policy effectively reduced the number of potential flights and passengers to the DMIA and dampened its attractiveness as a regional economic hub.

Losers

On the other hand, a tourism industry leader urged President Aquino should support PAL in trying to solve its labor problems instead of adopting an open skies policy.

“The government should support PAL and not act like they are operating PAL. It should leave PAL to work with its airline partners and implement its contingency measures in case a strike will happen,” said Robert Lim Joseph, chairman of the Travel Cooperative of the Philippines and chairman emeritus of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies.

Joseph said the government should not intervene in the labor row and warned other interest groups would take advantage of the situation to the detriment of PAL and the national interest.
Joseph recalled that when foreign airlines were allowed to service some PAL routes, the flag carrier temporarily ceased operations in 1998 and airline fares went up.

“This is not to mention the damage that such policy of allowing foreign airlines to take over PAL’s routes will do to our image,” Joseph said.

Joseph also warned Filipino travel and cargo agents would be displaced once foreign airlines take over PAL’s operations.

Joseph appealed to the PAL union leaders for sobriety and to work with management to resolve their differences for the sake of national interest.

PAL reportedly lost P15 billion in the last two fiscal years (2008-2009) due to the global economic crisis that drastically slowed down travel and high cost of jet fuel, among others.

Joseph pointed out that “one crisis cannot solve another crisis,” and warned that in case PAL collapses as a result of a crippling strike, 8,500 jobs will be lost and workers can no longer get whatever benefits they are entitled to like retirement and health.

“Both management and workers will lose in the event PAL will close down,” he said. – With Mary Ann Reyes, Ding Cervantes