Review of aviation pact sought

Aviation workers called on Trasportation Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez to order a review of the agreement restoring the country’s ail links with Taiwan, particularly the grant of 6th freedom rights to Taiwanese carriers, to prevent the closure of local carriers.

In a letter to Alvarez, the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) branded the agreement as "onerous" and said Taiwanese carriers Eva Air and China Airlines have resorted again to "cutthroat" competition after the Philippine government virtually caved in to the demands of Taiwan.

The letter was signed by 12 PALEA officials and copy furnished President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon.

They said the scheme would eventually ease out the competition, including Philippine Airlines (PAL) whose rehabilitation program has been seriously threatened under the terms of the air accord.

"This (cutthroat competition) is grossly unfair as it places Filipino travelers at a disadvantage in the long run" because if PAL collapses due to unfair competition, Eva Air and China Airlines can raise their airfares unilaterally, they said.

This was what happened to the Manila-Guam route, which PAL abandoned when Continental Airlines slashed its fare but which it later increased when the former pulled out from the route. Now, Continental imposes a fare on the Manila-Guam route that is higher than what PAL charges on the Manila-San Francisco route.

"China Airlines now poaches passengers from the Philippines to the US and vice versa at a ratio of 3:1. This adversely affects PAL as its precariously places its rehabilitation program in peril, specially the workers and Filipinos who depend on PAL for their livelihood," the workers said.

They revealed that PAL lost P470 million in October 2000 since the air agreement was implemented, the airline’s first negative performance since it started operations anew in October 1998.

"We are one with our government in promoting tourism and in enhancing foreign capital to support our economy but not to the detriment of the RP civil aviation industry and its workers," they pointed out.

They said statistics and records would show that neither an open sky policy nor the grant of 6th freedom rights had a direct impact on tourism and foreign capital influx. "There are already existing landing rights for foreign air carriers but they do not fully utilize them because of passenger insufficiency, traceable primarily to the prevailing peace and order situation and the political crisis."

A study by the Center for Research and Communication (CRC) showed that complete air deregulation is not the key, they said. "Increased government support through improved infrastructure and peace and order shall surely bring in tourists and foreign investments."

"On the contrary, an open skies policy or granting of 6th freedom rights will only allow foreign carriers to pirate passengers from RP carriers which could eventually result in the closure of local airlines and retrenchment of tens of thousands of aviation workers. This would only add woes to our fragile economy."