Philippine Airlines and low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific Air are both vying for additional weekly flights to Australia.
In an application to the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), PAL is requesting for additional 3,115 weekly seats between Manila and Australia. In a separate application, Cebu Pacific is asking for 1,777 more seats per week.
The Philippines and Australia last April signed a memorandum of understanding raising seat entitlements to 9,300 a week from the existing 6,000 weekly entitlements.
The two countries also agreed to third-country code sharing, which will enable designated airlines of the Philippines and Australia to operate services jointly with an airline of a country, to, from, or via the other country.
PAL currently has flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Darwin, while Cebu Pacific operates to Sydney. Cebu Pacific earlier expressed interest in increasing flights to Australia.
In 2014, total traffic between the two countries registered about 327,000 flights, an increase of 10% from 2013, CAB said. Tourists from Australia to the Philippines numbered about 224,000 last year, a 5% hike from the previous year.
Aviation think tank Centre for Aviation (CAPA) said routes between Australia and the Philippines are under-served. CAPA added that Australia is an important and generally profitable market for the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries that have few or no limitations on aviation expansion.
