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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
THE Philippines and Hong Kong have agreed to
increase seat entitlements in a bid to serve the growing number of
overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and local tourists going to the
former British colony.
At the conclusion of the two-day air talks held
at the Clark Freeport Zone, Transportation Undersecretary Doroteo
Reyes 2nd, chairman of the RP Air Panel, said the two governments
have agreed to 23,800 seat entitlements per week for each state. Of
the total, 15,000 had been allocated to Manila, 6,300 to Clark and
the remaining 2,500 to Cebu.
The Hong Kong government received a reciprocal
right to ferry 23,800 passengers to points in the Philippines.
Reyes said the seat entitlements to Manila had
been increased from 13,000 to 15,000 while Clark received 6,300 from
zero.
Victor Jose Luciano, president of Clark
International Airport Corp. said the 6,300 seat entitlements per
week for Clark translate to 35 flights or around 5 flights per day.
Luciano said “the thousands of OFWs based in
Hong Kong will benefit from the result of the fruitful RP-HK Air
Talks.”
Besides seat entitlements for Clark, the
government also secured 1,400 tons of cargo per week for the Clark
route or around three Boeing 747 cargo planes per day for Clark.
Reyes and his counterpart Francis Cheng,
chairman of the Hong Kong Air panel, signed the Confidential
Memorandum of Understanding (CMOU) which would pave the way for more
flights between the Philippines and the former British colony.
Both air panels last met in October 2, 1996 when
they inked the CMOU.
“It really manifests the good intention of
both parties to really develop each and every abilities in civil
aviation and indicating an intention to enrich the region and to
participate in the globalization,” Reyes said.
Cheng said both governments have shown a sincere
commitment in expanding more opportunities for the aviation industry
that would attract additional flights.
He also bared Hong Kong airlines’ intention to
mount flights at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in
Clark.
Reyes however said that the issue on the Fifth
Freedom Traffic Rights to the US, Canada and Europe will be
discussed in the next round of talks.
Philippines Airlines and Cebu Pacific plan to
mount flights via Clark to Hong Kong. Earlier, the Philippines
secured 32 flights per week, while 8 flights went to Clark during
the just concluded RP-Cambodia Air talks held in Manila.
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