THE Philippine air panel is set to hold negotiations with Oman and Russia next month and another 10 countries next year, according to the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB).

Porvenir Porciuncula, CAB deputy executive director, said the Philippine-Russia air talks will take place from November 30 to December 1 while the Philippine-Oman air service agreement (ASA) is set on December 14.

Porciuncula said Oman Air has expressed interest to fly in the Philippines to serve the overseas Filipino market.

For next year, he said the country’s air panel is looking at negotiating with 10 countries.

The Philippine air panel is composed of officials from the Departments of Transportation and Communications, of Foreign Affairs, of Tourism, of Trade and Industry, CAB, and representatives from the airline companies.

“We hope to seal more agreements with various countries next year,” Porciuncula said, as he identified countries such as South Korea, China, India, Indonesia, Bahrain and other Middle East countries.

Earlier, the Philippines concluded an ASA with Cambodia as they both agreed to a total of 35 weekly flights.

Both panels agreed on seven flights per week on the Manila-Cambodia route, 14 weekly flights for Clark-Cambodia, and another 14 flights per week on points in the Philippines except Manila and Clark.

In addition, the Philippine air panel and its counterpart in the United Kingdom have agreed to a total of 14 weekly flights to Manila and/or Clark and to other points in the country.

There are about 300,000 Filipinos working in the UK.

Since the start of the year, the CAB had completed air talks with Singapore, Brunei, Australia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

The liberalization of the Philippines’ air policy is part of the Arroyo administration’s Medium-Term Development Plan for 2004 to 2010.

The government is banking on the liberalization of air transport to pave the way for the entry of more foreign budget airlines to achieve the five million tourist arrivals by 2010.
DARWIN G. AMOJELAR