Congress urged to implement ‘open skies’ policy in secondary airports

THE 14th Congress has been advised to enact an open skies policy at least in its secondary airports such as Clark and Subic for the Philippines to keep up with its neighboring countries in terms of tourism competitiveness.

The recommendation was made by the Congressional Planning and Budget Department (CPBD) in its latest policy paper entitled “Promoting a Pocket Open Skies Policy for RP: Expanding Economic Opportunities for Filipinos”.

“The right time has come to adopt an open skies policy at least in the country’s gateways,” the paper noted.

“Strong political will on the part of our legislators in this 14th Congress to put the national interest first before the interest of the local players, is necessary if we want to spread and maximize the benefits of air service liberalization to all stakeholders,” CPBD director general Rodolfo Vicerra said.

The paper stressed that the economic gains presently enjoyed in Clark airport -- the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) -- in terms of tourism, jobs, exports and investments growth, “could be replicated across the country by fully opening up the country’s secondary gateways from foreign airlines operations”.

But despite such gains, the study stressed that Clark, along with Subic, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo and Poropoint, are among the country’s secondary airports which remained underserved mainly because local carriers have focused to operate the more profitable trunk routes.

To prove this, the study made a comparison between the number of flights booked by these secondary airports with those of Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesian airports. Fewer flights per week have been recorded in Cebu (68), Davao (15) and Clark (50) as compared to secondary airports in other countries like Siem Reap (191), Phuket (165), Penang (103) and Surabaya (72).

Liberalization particularly of Cambodia’s air services led to the significant increase in tourist arrivals in the country from a 24,000 in 1999 to 1.5 million in 2006.

Another success story cited was of Europe that adopted a deregulated international air transport which spurred economic growth and development of both travel and tourism sectors and other industries.

“Hence, developing the country’s secondary gateways through liberalization is imperative,” the study concluded. “Tourism is the key in combating unemployment and poverty.”

“Open skies is as important as putting in place a seamless infrastructure network –roads and bridges, adequate power and water supply, and efficient ICT (information communications technology) facilities, to strategic tourism areas,” Vicerra said.

The study further pointed out that another compelling reason for the country to adopt an open skies policy is for the Philippines to take advantage of the booming economic growth experienced by East Asian economies and the robust global tourism expansion.

“Comprising at least one-fourth of the world economic output, 50 percent of the intra-regional trade and more than two billion potential market, East Asia and the Pacific is the prime market to develop to support a robust growth of the Philippine aviation and tourism industries,” the CPBD stressed.

In line with this goal, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) said the Philippines would greatly benefit in joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Open Skies for capital cities in 2008.

Such agreement allows flights between Asean capital cities. This would connect Manila to the regional hubs of Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia and the rest of the world. (Danielle Venz/Philexport News and Features/Sunnex)