The Philippines and Singapore have amended their air services agreement to increase seat entitlements and raise limits on frequencies in a drive to open up more commercial opportunities for the airlines of both countries.
Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) executive director Atty Carmelo Arcilla said the Philippines and Singapore signed on February 13 a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) on air services, increasing the current capacity entitlements between Manila and Singapore by 7.1% to 18,888 seats per week from 17,627 for each country.
“Overall, the agreement opens up more commercial opportunities for the airlines of the two countries,” Arcilla said.
The list of co-terminal points for a Singaporean carrier was likewise expanded to include Iloilo and Bacolod from the current Cebu, Davao, and Puerto Princesa points.
“It means that Singaporean carriers can fly to Cebu for example and then proceed to Davao,” Arcilla explained.
The CAB chief noted that the Philippines and Singapore also agreed to increase the limit on the frequencies for the fifth freedom rights to 10 per week from eight per week previously. Fifth freedom rights allows an airline to carry revenue traffic between foreign countries as a part of services connecting the airline’s own country.
“This means that a Singaporean carrier for example can operate a route that starts from Singapore to Manila and proceeds to Osaka, 10 times a week,” Arcilla pointed out.
Moreover, both countries also agreed to third-country code sharing, which allows airlines from the two countries to collaborate with airlines from third countries in marketing services between the Philippines and Singapore.
This is the first signed air agreement of the Philippines for this year as it eyes similar deals with Australia, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, and Taiwan.
Image courtesy of noppasinw at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
