PH Amends ASA With Singapore

MNL Open Skies by 2028

13 May 2024

The Philippines and Singapore have signed a new Air Services Agreement (ASA) allowing for its respective airlines to offer up to 150 weekly services to carry passengers, and cargo between the two capital, up from the current limit of 35 weekly services.

The new ASA also allows Airlines from third countries to serve as code-share partners. This technically allows for example Jetstar Airways of Australia to Fly from Australian Cities to Singapore towards Manila by partnering with Singapore Airlines for servicing a slot allocation. Similarly, China Airlines may partner with Philippine Airlines from Taipei to Manila onwards to Singapore for similar rights.

The new limit of 150 weekly codeshare services will double by end-March 2026, and will be fully lifted by March the following year, allowing for unrestricted access to Manila by 2028. New Manila International Airport under construction in Bulacan is slated to open to commercial flights in March of 2028.

The ASA provides no limit on code-share services between Singapore and other gateway points in the Philippines, as well as between Singapore and any points in the Philippines involving airlines from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) or the European Union.

The Philippines represented by DOTr Assistant Secretary for Aviation and Airports Enrique Antonio J Esquivel together with Singapore’s Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Transport Yee Ping Yi signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Thursday (May 9).

It upgrades the bilateral Air Services Agreement (ASA) between the two ASEAN countries, which was signed in 2010 and last amended in 2015.

The upgraded ASA also allows Philippine-based airlines, like Air Asia that are fully owned or controlled by nationals of other countries to access the traffic rights exchanged in the ASA, as long as their principal place of business is in the Philippines.

Previously, only airlines that were substantially owned and effectively controlled by Philippine nationals could do so.