Clark airport running short of flights
At least a thousand OFWs fail to leave daily and facing cancellation of their labor contracts
CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga: The open skies policy at the Clark airport has once again been raised by an advocacy group to solve the worsening lack of flights for the increasing number of overseas Filipino workers (OFW).
Renato Diaz, chairman of the Center for Strategic Initiatives said that there is an urgent need for foreign airlines to schedule chartered flights between the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), the Middle East and the United States.
President and CEO Victor Jose Luciano of Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) called anew to President Arroyo to sign Executive Order 500B that would allow foreign air carriers to operate in the Philippines especially airline from the Middle East for the benefit of OFWs. He added that the shortage of airline seats for OFWs is seriously affecting the country’s ability to supply the rapidly increasing market for Filipino skilled workers.
Luciano and Diaz said that various companies that contract labor have been complaining of lack of seats and airline flights. They expressed fear that the Philippines will lose to other countries deploying to the Middle East simply because they cannot book flights to meet contractual obligations.
On April 4, President Arroyo led the inauguration of the Expanded Terminal of DMIA that would increase passenger capacity to 2 million annually. CIAC is embarking on an ambitious project for the development of the Terminal 2 project that would further increase passenger capacity to 8 million annually for DMIA.
“The government should allow more flights to and from Asean airports to DMIA in Clark to alleviate the shortage. This will allow the OFWs the flexibility of getting connecting flights in Asean airports to their final destinations.” It should be noted that the President has authorized the establishment of a one-stop processing office for the documentation requirements of OFWs at the Clark Freeport thus making it more convenient as the point of departure for most OFWs.
Diaz also said flights to the Middle East are limited due to air rights wherein the Philippine Airlines does not use their entitlements and instead are “selling these to other foreign airlines under code sharing arrangements,” thus reducing the available capacity.
Diaz has proposed a policy change so that local airlines may utilize their entitlements. The policy should be that if they did not fly for three past six months then other local air carriers might be designated by the government to use these entitlements.
When no local carrier is able to provide the equivalent flights then the foreign carrier can be granted these frequencies and any income should go to the Philippine government and not to the local airline, according to Diaz.
Presently, at least 1,000 recruited OFWs failed to leave daily and are facing cancellation of their labor contracts due to the shortage of flights.
Luciano expressed fear that if the flight shortage continues, thousands of Filipino workers would lose their chance to work in the Middle East and US. By Mark Louie P. Roxas, Manila Times
CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga: The open skies policy at the Clark airport has once again been raised by an advocacy group to solve the worsening lack of flights for the increasing number of overseas Filipino workers (OFW).
Renato Diaz, chairman of the Center for Strategic Initiatives said that there is an urgent need for foreign airlines to schedule chartered flights between the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), the Middle East and the United States.
President and CEO Victor Jose Luciano of Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) called anew to President Arroyo to sign Executive Order 500B that would allow foreign air carriers to operate in the Philippines especially airline from the Middle East for the benefit of OFWs. He added that the shortage of airline seats for OFWs is seriously affecting the country’s ability to supply the rapidly increasing market for Filipino skilled workers.
Luciano and Diaz said that various companies that contract labor have been complaining of lack of seats and airline flights. They expressed fear that the Philippines will lose to other countries deploying to the Middle East simply because they cannot book flights to meet contractual obligations.
On April 4, President Arroyo led the inauguration of the Expanded Terminal of DMIA that would increase passenger capacity to 2 million annually. CIAC is embarking on an ambitious project for the development of the Terminal 2 project that would further increase passenger capacity to 8 million annually for DMIA.
“The government should allow more flights to and from Asean airports to DMIA in Clark to alleviate the shortage. This will allow the OFWs the flexibility of getting connecting flights in Asean airports to their final destinations.” It should be noted that the President has authorized the establishment of a one-stop processing office for the documentation requirements of OFWs at the Clark Freeport thus making it more convenient as the point of departure for most OFWs.
Diaz also said flights to the Middle East are limited due to air rights wherein the Philippine Airlines does not use their entitlements and instead are “selling these to other foreign airlines under code sharing arrangements,” thus reducing the available capacity.
Diaz has proposed a policy change so that local airlines may utilize their entitlements. The policy should be that if they did not fly for three past six months then other local air carriers might be designated by the government to use these entitlements.
When no local carrier is able to provide the equivalent flights then the foreign carrier can be granted these frequencies and any income should go to the Philippine government and not to the local airline, according to Diaz.
Presently, at least 1,000 recruited OFWs failed to leave daily and are facing cancellation of their labor contracts due to the shortage of flights.
Luciano expressed fear that if the flight shortage continues, thousands of Filipino workers would lose their chance to work in the Middle East and US. By Mark Louie P. Roxas, Manila Times
Labels: CIAC, Clark Airways, dmia, ofw
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