US panel pushing for full ‘open skies’ pact with RP

The US government is pushing for a full "open skies" arrangement with the Philippines which could lift restrictions under the existing 1995 RP-US Aviation Agreement, an official of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said yesterday.

Alan Tan, acting undersecretary for air transportation, said the proposal for the easing of restrictions was made during a meeting yesterday with visiting US aviation officials.

"At present, there is no full open skies arrangement. So there are limits that the Americans want relaxed," Tan said.

Last week, US charge d’affairs Michael Malinowski informed the DOTC that a US team would be arriving to discuss both bilateral and multilateral options for establishing an open skies relationship between the two countries, and to answer any questions that Philippine authorities may have about open skies.

The proposal seeks to remove restrictions on routes, capacities, flight frequencies and fare pricing.

Tan said the US delegation did not really push for a multilateral agreement but wanted restrictions on RP-US carrier designation and routes relaxed.

"The proposal was made despite expressing satisfaction over a current agreement. They proposed the lifting of restrictions on the points of destination and the number of carriers that can be designated," he said.

At present, the Philippines and the US can only designate three airlines in limited destinations.

The US panel explained that air traffic in the Philippines would significantly increase just like in Singapore with the adoption of an open skies policy.

For its part, the Philippine government asked US officials to formalize their request so that it could be reviewed by a local air negotiations panel.

"Our position is that if the US wants to amend the agreement, a formal proposal should be made," Tan said.

He explained any proposal would be reviewed by the negotiations panel that was created under Executive Order 219, or the Air Liberalization Policy. The panel was formed to conduct an initial review of the 1995 air accord.

Tan said yesterday’s meeting was a "productive exchange of ideas."

"No commitments were made. It was basically to keep both our minds open. Any proposal must first be studied by concerned agencies and industry players," he said.

The US panel was composed of Dan Frantozzi, director of aviation negotiations of the Department of State; Ed Oppler, deputy director of the Office of International Aviation under the Department of Transportation; Jonathan Bemis, East Asia coordinator of the aviation negotiations office; and George Ruffner of the US Embassy’s foreign commercial services office.

The Philippines was represented by Tan, DOTC Assistant Secretary George Esguerra; Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Franklin Ebdalin, Civil Aviation Board director Manuel San Jose and Air Transportation Office chief Adelberto Yap, among others.

Earlier, a foreign affairs official opposed the open air policy, saying such an arrangement "will spell the death of local airlines.

"They will gobble up our airlines," the official, who did not want to be named, added. "We cannot agree at this point to grant them open skies."