The Philippine Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) will start air talks with Taiwan and Russia next month.
CAB executive director Atty. Carmelo Arcilla in an interview said a team of Philippine negotiators will sit down with their Taiwanese counterparts on December 8 to look at increasing air entitlements between the Philippines and Taiwan.
“The Manila Economic and Cultural Office and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office
are all set to discuss the expansion of entitlements for carriers,” Arcilla said. “Taiwan is a growing market and we are not only looking at expanding entitlements to and from Manila but also airports outside Manila.
“As for Russia, we continue to treat it as a potential market, particularly Vladivostok and hopefully we could get one.”
CAB is awaiting results of a study being conducted by Russian carriers on the viability of mounting flights to Manila.
To date, passengers from Taiwan to the Philippines are nearing the 100,000 mark, significantly higher than last year’s figure. Cargo volume also grew modestly.
CAB is expecting the traffic to further swell, particularly toward the summer of 2012.
As a result, the agency is actively pursuing efforts to open direct Taiwan flights to Philippine airports not currently included in existing air entitlements.
Arcilla said Executive Order 29 (Open Skies policy) signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III which took effect in May could be used to underline such efforts.
