Open skies won’t bring in tourists – expert

An international aviation expert has refuted claims that an open skies policy will bring in tourists to the Philippines and make the country an aviation hub.

Speaking before a forum sponsored by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Dusit Hotel in Makati City, professor Rigas Doganis, chairman of the prestigious European Aviation Club in Brussels and consultant to European airlines and airports, said "tourism is not a function of open skies."

"Open skies would not generate more incoming tourists, but it would make the tourism (industry) more dependent on foreign airlines," he said, stressing that tourism is primarily dependent on attractive and adequate infrastructure, image and competitive pricing.

Doganis, who has a doctorate in air transport, warned that increased dependence on foreign airlines is risky. "During the Gulf War in 1991 and the summer that followed, virtually all airlines stopped flying to Cyprus, except for Cyprus Airways, and tourism was very badly hit," he said.

According to him, there are many unused capacity and traffic rights under existing bilateral agreements, with many European and Middle Eastern carriers refusing to fly to the Philippines for lack of passengers.

On the claim that an open skies agreement with the United States would make the Philippines an aviation hub, Doganis said "open skies bilateral agreements do not in themselves lead to the creation of major hubs."

He said the US has open skies agreements with 57 countries but not one of them became a hub. Among the countries with open skies agreements with the US are Brunei, Barbados, Malaysia, New Zealand, Chile, Taiwan, Burkina Fasso, Ghana, Rwanda, Cape Verde, Aruba, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras.

On the contrary, it is the American carriers, with their powerful networks around the world, that would build hubs on both sides of the Pacific.

"On the US side, they (US carriers) can feed their trans-Pacific routes with domestic services from all over the USA. Philippine Airlines or other Asian carriers cannot do this. On the Asian side, existing fifth freedom rights and open skies agreements would enable US carriers to establish and feed Asian hubs too like Northwest’s Tokyo hub. In this way, they can draw traffic onto their trans-Pacific services from all over East Asia," Doganis stressed.

He said the Asian carriers can only establish hubs at the Asian end. "As a result of being able to feed their trans-Pacific routes at both ends, US carriers can mount much higher frequencies and thereby attract a bigger share of the high yield business travel market."

Doganis emphasized that an open skies agreement between the US and the Philippines would be very helpful to US airlines but harmful to any Philippine carrier attempting to complete with them on the Pacific routes or elsewhere.

"While the US carriers will be able to fly from any point in the US to any point in Southeast or East Asia as a result of open skies agreements with other Asian states, PAL or any other Philippine airline will be only able to fly from Philippine points to any point in the US. This will allow US carriers to create very attractive, competitive and powerful networks across the Pacific," he said.