PH eyes air services accords with Qatar, New Caledonia

The Philippines may push for bilateral air services agreement with Qatar and New Caledonia to capture the huge overseas Filipino market in these territories.

Transportation Undersecretary Roberto C.O. Lim said that in the case of Qatar there was already an agreement two years ago but which were not completed or implemented. There are at least 250,000 Filipinos living and working in Qatar.

New Caledonia, a French territory in the Pacific, is also being eyed by the government as there have been lots of Filipinos working in that territory. “New Caledonia is just like Guam,” he said.

“These are, however, still being studied, we are the ones knocking on their doors,” Lim said.

Lim, however, said the best way to start is to mount chartered flights first before going into formal agreements.

In June 2015, an updated air agreement was signed between the Philippines and Qatar was signed. The agreement had called for increased maximum number of flights between Manila and Doha to 14 per week from eight per week.

Qatar Airways operates eight times per week to Manila and seven times a week to Clark. It would be recalled that the airline reduced its flights between Manila and Doha to eight per week in November 2013 while its started operating in Clark also in 2013.

The Philippines has been pursuing more air talks as part of its open skies policy under Executive Order 29 and to support the country’s growing tourism.

In 2014, the Philippines concluded air talks with Ethiopia, South Africa, Macau, Canada, Myanmar, New Zealand, Singapore and France.