Give us MNL and We Will Fly Davao!
3 May 2017
Air Bilateral talks between the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has failed according to Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla.
The two-day talks between the Philippines and the UAE was held in Davao City on April 26 and 27 with the aim of expanding the air service entitlements between the two countries from the existing 70 flights per week.
Arcilla said the talks ended in deadlock after the UAE asked for seven (7) more landing slots in Manila without elaborating further.
“Our talks included the commitment of Emirates to operate out of Davao and additional flights to Manila, but the details could not be resolved as of yet,” Arcilla said.
CAB said UAE wanted to mount more flights out of Manila for a total of 42 flights a week to the objections of local carriers Philippine Airlines(PAL), Cebu Pacific(CEB) and Air Philippines(GAP).
The local carriers argued that there are still plenty of entitlements to the Philippines, other than Manila, that has not been taken by the UAE carriers since the latest air talks. In the agreement UAE airlines are required to invest in developmental gateways outside Manila.
Local airlines further argued during the meeting that giving in to the UAE request for more Manila flights would lessen the incentive for Emirates to continue flying to Clark and Cebu, or its contemplated new service to Davao.
Emirates on the other hand committed to launch Davao flights on a triangular service to Cebu in exchange for more entitlements out of Manila airport which the Philippine panel is not prepared to give on account of so many unused slots in the Philippines, among them Angeles, Cebu, Davao.
Arcilla said the Philippine panel would have wanted Emirates to used first the slots for Clark, Cebu and particularly Davao since its not being served yet, but the UAE group wanted Manila given first before committing to fly Davao.
“There are things they want, but it’s hard for us to give, there are things that we want, but its hard for them to give. Like, we want Davao for them to operate, they want Manila, so we negotiated along those lines, but we can’t iron out the differing positions,” says Arcilla.
ASA to the UAE has recently been expanded in 2015 granting UAE airlines 35 flights a week to Manila and 35 flights to the rest of the Philippines, from the old 28 flights a week ASA negotiated in 2012.
Emirates Airlines and Etihad has existing and unused landing rights to Clark (14x), Cebu(14x), Davao(7x). So far Only Emirates served Dubai-Cebu-Clark-Dubai triangular routes on daily flight, equivalent to single frequency. It has also stopped flying out of Angeles City in 2014 leaving 34 landing slots not utilized.
Emirates flies 18 weekly flights from Dubai to Manila, while Etihad flies 17 times weekly from Abu Dhabi to Manila, a total of 35 flights weekly. Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines (PAL) has 14 slots to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, while Cebu Pacific(CEB) and Air Philippines(GAP) has daily frequencies to Dubai with a total used slot of 28 frequencies.
PAL and CEB earlier manifested no objections from UAE carriers to launch flights to Davao in a white paper released last week saying Clark, Cebu and Davao are still under serve markets.
They should allow ey ek qr to fly addition flight it will be nefit the passengers, pr and 5j should compete with their products for passengers to fly them. I always fly qr and ek because of their easy connections to europe, a single stopover.
ReplyDeleteLegally, beyond traffic rights should not exceed 30%. But for the middle east airlines you are talking about its quite the opposite. Only few end their trip in DXB, AUH, and DOH. Majority of them like you go somewhere else.
DeleteThats the advantage for filipinos residing in europe, they have multiple options flying back to ph. PR AND 5J should give good cabin products its like they just focused on their pacific flights and they deploy their 400 seater 330 to mideast. I think let the government. Foreign airlines fly to manila and it will bring competition and it will lead to much cheaper airfare.
DeleteEmirates has already 3 x daily flights between DXB-MNL-DXB and all are being operated by B77W compared to Cebu Pacific and PAL once daily each and want a fourth ! Why not just send two daily A380 flights that would be more efficent in utilizing
ReplyDeleteEmirates has 18 weekly flights from DXB to MNL if where to be 3 x daily flights it should be 21 weekly I check the flight available from MNL to DXB and found that EK 337 is only four times weekly while EK 333 and 335 are weekly so I think EK wants to make EK337 daily. Also EK has already deployed the A380 in MNL back in 2014. But it was only for celebrating their transfer from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 in NAIA but as for routine A380 flight operations i'm not sure if MNL can sustain the A380. I've seen OZ,QF and LH in MNL for maintenance in LTP !
DeleteI understand that caap is protecting the business of local carroer but its always the filipino passenger suffers, with numdrous flight flying to destinations is much easier. I always hate when i fly from europe to mnl and it will take me for almost a day travelling. To PR pls upgrade your product and make the seat configuration competitive. Your 400 seater 330 is really crowded and it doesnt have avod.... I also tried to ageing 340 lhr to mnl and watching ipad and your leaning downward to see the screen makes you dizzy..... Vn even garuda have surpassed PR...
ReplyDeleteIts CAB not CAAP that regulate flights also what is the goal here is for carrier in the UAE EK and EY to operates flights from CRK,CEB,DVO. MNL is already near capacity but this carriers want additional slots for MNL its not that easy to give ! The goal here is to decongest MNL so this quite counter to thier goal also In my opinion I think it would be better if EK can deployed thier A380 instead of thier usual i B77W if only MNL could handel the A380 !
DeleteMNL can handle the A380. The airport already has certification for that. Due to congestion issues at 13/31 they are only available at late night. Technically, EK can fly A380 at midnight. The problem however is not Manila related but gate assignment at DXB.
DeleteThanks for the info.... I think manila can accomodate additiknal flights for early morning slots, allow the mid east to fly additional fligts and they will soon start flying to dvo just what they did for the ceb route. All in all, the ultimate winner for this is the ease of travrlling for passenger, better connectivity of ph to the rest of the world and more tourist arrivals in ph.
ReplyDeletePR wants to fly to EU countries but mostly what I heard/read here in EU, not all, they want direct flight of PR not allowing to 5th FF, which PR wants, like the MNL-Israel-FCO v.v. route with A330/A340 a/c...
ReplyDeleteItaly won't allow...