RP-HK talks on new air agreement to start, says CAB

The Civil Aeronautics Board said Monday the government has lined up a series of talks on new air agreements with other governments to double the number of tourist arrivals in the Philippines, and that a meeting with Hong Kong officials is to start next month. Philippine officials will likely meet with Hong Kong authorities – the recent hostage tragedy notwithstanding – the results of which may well be the first air agreement under the Aquino administration. “We had that debacle, but we are looking at this in the long-term," CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla said in an interview. Stakeholders in the airlines and tourism industries have reported a sudden drop in travel to the Philippines as a result of the Aug. 23 incident, which left eight Hong Kong tourists dead. “But as soon as the emotional outbursts subside, we expect the travel market between the Philippines and Hong Kong to normalize," Arcilla said. Apart from Hong Kong, he said that China, Indonesia, and Italy were also on the list. “Those were the countries that were in the radar screen before the new administration came," Arcilla said. Air traffic between those countries and the Philippines have risen in the past few years that current flight entitlements are no longer enough to cope with demand, according to him. The negotiations would have started this month, but new members of the Philippine air panel need to familiarize themselves with procedures, he said. CAB officials and those of the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Department of Tourism make up the Philippine panel. Stakeholders from the private sector officials are in the talks as observers. The Philippines signed its latest air agreement with Singapore in May. Agreements were also signed with Qatar and South Korea before the Aquino administration took over government. —VS, GMANews.TV