Air links with Philippines discussed

The nearly year-long suspension of air links between Taiwan and the Philippines will be restored as long as the Philippines respects a 1996 agreement between the two sides, Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) said yesterday.

Yeh made the comment after a meeting with former Philippine president Fidel Ramos yesterday. Ramos, who flew into Taipei for a four-day visit Sunday, discussed the air links issue during a closed-door meeting with Yeh.

"If the Philippines can acknowledge that `sixth freedom' flights are a standard practice according to the 1996 agreement by both sides, then we will probably sign the pact to restore the links tomorrow at the earliest," said Chang Chia-juch (張家祝), vice minister of transport and communications.

The "sixth freedom" refers to the right of Taiwanese and Philippine carriers to pick up passengers from each other's country for transport to a third country.

The two countries suspended flights in October last year after failing to resolve complaints from Philippine Airlines (PAL) that Taiwanese airlines were picking up passengers from the Philippines and flying them to other countries, such as the US, via Taipei. The Philippine carrier felt that it suffered losses from passengers using Taiwanese carriers to get to third destinations.

"That issue has been resolved by the Philippine government, acknowledging that sixth freedom traffic is a standard practice in the international airlines industry," said Rodolfo Reyes, resident representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, the Philippine's unofficial embassy in Taiwan.

The upcoming agreement would essentially be amendments based on 1996 agreements, primarily acknowledging sixth freedom rights granted to both sides, Reyes told the Taipei Times.

The agreement will allow Taiwanese and Philippine carriers to fly up to 9,600 passengers a week between the two countries. However, only 4,800 passengers a week will be allowed for the Taipei-Manila route, while the rest will be allocated for secondary Taiwanese cities and chartered flights, Reyes said. According to Reyes, the number of Philippine tourists to Taiwan has dropped 75 percent since the suspension of flights last October.

Officials at China Airlines (中華航空) and EVA Airways (長榮航空) yesterday welcomed the prospect of restoring normal air links with Philippines.

Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維), deputy senior vice president of EVA, said that if the new pact is signed, EVA could probably assume direct flights sometime next month.