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Israel Agrees 5th Freedom

Opens Rome and Madrid to the Philippines


9 November 2013

The Philippine concluded Thursday amendments to its six decades old agreement with Israel in Jerusalem with the Israeli government agreeing to provide fifth freedom rights to the Philippines going to Madrid, Spain.

Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) executive director Carmelo Arcilla said the new agreement was signed by Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla from the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) and Giora Romm, Director of Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority.

“Under the new agreement, the designated airlines of each country are entitled to a total of 21 flights per week between any points in the Philippines and Israel," says Arcilla.


The original air service agreement with Israel was signed in 1951 providing one frequency per week and was operated by Philippine Airlines until the 1960s via Bangkok, Mumbai, and Tehran.

The new Air Services Agreement calls for three fifth-freedom flights per week on one intermediate point in Mumbai and one beyond point in Madrid.

This means that PAL can fly to India, unload and pick up passengers and proceed to Israel, or unload and pick up in Israel and proceed to Madrid.

"The agreement also calls on co-terminal and stopover rights to any third country for the 21 flights," Arcilla said.

"This means that a Philippine carrier can bring passengers to Tel Aviv and proceed to say, Rome. Or bring passengers to Tel Aviv, and pick them up again after several days for onward travel to say, Rome," he added.

The agreement is mostly tailored to Holy Land pilgrimage as the Philippines is the only Catholic nation in the far east Asia and most tour operators put Rome and Jerusalem as part of the christian journey.

Arcilla said the agreement with Israel is the fourth this year, after the Philippines signed earlier deals with Italy, Japan and Brazil. The fifth talk is between Russia scheduled next week.


3 comments:

  1. I work in israel and i always fly with el al airlines via hongkong.el al is the strictiest airlines i ever fly.the staffs are rude,racial profiling is degrading for non jews and colored people.their aging FA are very attentive and hospitable while the young ones are fast ,rude,snub and nasty.if pal will commence flight to tlv,it will steal 200 thousand israeli tourist visiting thailand every year.israeli hates connecting flights,thats why they prefer thailand because of available direct flights.

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  2. Israeli tourists are not a resource.
    Few exceptions maybe 1 out of 10 or in a sunny day 2 out of 10.
    Most are "very cheap" counting every single shekel they are spending -as it's a matter of life and dead- , trying to travel "cheap cheap" and complaining about services. Not only the "poor" students but also most of the ones with good jobs are similar.
    They are very rude not hospitable.
    They are acting like they have a mental trauma all the time.
    Very old people are strict but way better and more "human looking" compared to younger ones.


    Few exceptions maybe 1 out of 10.

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  3. CAB awarded both Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific (CEB) seven flight entitlements to Israel.

    ReplyDelete