RP and Qatar hike flights to serve more OFWs

MANILA, Philippines - Manila and Doha agreed to add three more flights on the route serving both cities, bringing the total to eight trips weekly. Filipino and Qatari air panels agreed to increase flight frequency between both destinations to serve the increasing number of Filipino employees working in the Middle Eastern nation, the Philippines’ Civil Aeronautics Board said. An estimated 150,000 Filipinos are employed in Qatar last year. The pact was signed Wednesday night during the first day of a two-day air service negotiation. It was the Philippines’ first bilateral air service agreement signed this year. The same agreement covered the flight frequency hike for the Doha-Cebu route which rose to 14 weekly trips from three. Similarly, the Doha-Clark service was also increased to 14 from the previous three flights on a seven-day period. The Philippine air panel is set to meet with its counterparts from the United Arab of Emirates (UAE) on January 28 and 29, CAB deputy director Porvenir Porciuncula said. “After that we are looking at meeting with Kuwait and Brunei," the CAB official said. He added that air service talks this year will mostly involve “countries that were not part of last year’s discussions." The country’s air panel clinched agreements with Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Macau, Canada, Finland, Cambodia, Iran and Netherlands in 2007. - GMANews.TV