Neha Jain: http://philippinesaviationnews.blogspot.com/ 23

1. Sexagenarian pilots tapped
by Rey T. Salita

For lack of funds, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines says it has to resort to hiring sexagenarian pilots to help the agency meet safety and technical standards in the airline industry.

Younger pilots find the government’s salary offer unattractive, Aviation Director General Ramon Gutierrez told the congressional oversight committee on Tuesday.

“The younger pilots are lured by foreign airlines which offer them at least five times what we can offer,” he said.

The situation leaves us with no option but take in 65-year old pilots to fill technical positions as required by the International Civil Aviation Organization before it agrees to upgrade the Philippines from the category 2 status.

With a category 2 status, Philippine airline operators cannot add new or increase flight frequencies in their destinations, especially in the US Gutierrez said. The Philippines was placed under category 2 by ICAO for failing to meet five international standards on safety, inspection and technical capability, he said.

Asst. commissioner Anicia de Lima of the civil service commission said the hiring of senior pilots was sanctioned by the government because of the personnel’s “exceptional competence” in their line of work.

CAAP deputy director Johnny Andrews said the sexagenarian pilots are tasked to supervise simulator flight trainings and serve as inspectors.

“They are medically certified, reliable and competent. The civil service required us to submit semestral reports on their health and work aptitude,” Andrews said.

In the US, there are pilots who are already 84 years old and yet they are allowed to fly as long as they are medically certified,” he said.

“Younger pilots don’t have the disposition and calm when dealing with emergency situations. These are valuable traits senior pilots have,” Andrews said explaining that senior pilots don’t come cheap.

“Young pilots need to be trained at least five years to gain basic skills and we have to pay them more. And then they leave you.”

2. PHL 'pocket' open skies policy excludes NAIA

The “pocket" open skies policy excludes the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), with the Philippine aviation panels to declare which secondary airports are liberalized in favor of foreign airlines, Malacañang said Thursday.

President Benigno Aquino III signed Executive Orders 28 and 29 on March 14, liberalizing the entry of foreign airlines with a view to increasing air traffic into the country, Ricky Carandang, head of the Presidential Communications Strategic Planning and Development Office, told reporters in a press briefing.

“The intent of the orders was to liberalize the entry into secondary airports right now," Carandang said. It is up to the panel to determine which secondary airports will be part of the policy, he added.

“We hope it will bring in more tourists, more investments, and spur a competition in the Philippine aviation industry and to allow it to be competitive internationally," he said, noting that the Aquino administration is looking forward “to increasing air traffic coming into the Philippines.

The twin EOs should be taken together because EO 28 defines who is in charge of the liberalization process and EO 29 explains the policy, according to the Malacañang official.

EO 28 is for reorganizing the Philippine Air Negotiating Panel (PNAP) and the Philippine Air Consultation Panel (PACP), and EO 29 authorizes the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and the Philippine Air Panels to pursue more aggressively the international civil aviation liberalization policy, he explained.

A concept of reciprocity

A vital feature of the pocket open skies policy is the concept of reciprocity, Carandang said. “Domestic aviation would still be primarily in the hands of local carriers. So we believe that with those actions, the local aviation industry will have the ability to continue to compete," he said.

The Palace official delved into the issues hounding such a policy, and referred to the reciprocity concept as a possible but not an absolute solution to problems that may crop up when a country open is skies to foreign airlines.

“There are some questions about how much rights are [going to] be allowed to foreign carriers and how much rights we will be given in exchange. There’s a concept of reciprocity which can be defined in different ways. The EO and the economic team, as I understand, are taking the broadest definition of the reciprocity here," Carandang said.

“We’re not going to say if we’re allowed one flight there, then they must be allowed one flight here. But we recognize the benefits of having flights here on [their] own in terms of tourists that are allowed to come in, the number of investment that is generated." These “can be viewed as reciprocity," according to the Palace official.

SEAir has no objections

In an interview, SEAir president and CEO Avelino Zapanta told GMA News Online he has no objections to foreign airlines operating under an unlimited service policy in the Philippines.

"Open skies policy would help the domestic economy. It will increase jobs, boost businesses, and lift the tourism of the Philippines," said Zapanta, a proponent of the open skies policy.

He said liberal air policies would allow the Philippine aviation industry to catch up with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Now that the Philippines in going open skies, "the country is closing up to the idea of being a laggard in the industry.

3. DoT allays apprehensions over open skies policy
By MARS W. MOSQUEDA JR.
March 23, 2011, 8:17pm
DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Philippines – Two Visayan tourism industry players are asking President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III to review certain provisions in one of two executive orders he signed recently allowing open skies in the country, saying the President might have been “ill-advised” on the matter and could disadvantage the local airline industry.

Said dissenting voices against the Aquino government-backed open skies policy come from former Department of Tourism (DoT) Regional Director Patria Aurora Roa and Fair Trade Alliance Convenor Robert Lim Joseph who said that they welcome the increase of air services into the Philippines but such policy might enable foreign airlines much benefits that if these are not reciprocated by foreign governments, the growth and survival of Philippine carriers could be compromised.

Roa and Joseph particularly pointed at Executive Order 29 which authorizes the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and the air panels to pursue the aviation liberalization policy more aggressively.

“The executive order (EO 29) is one-sided and is a clear infringement of fairness and equal opportunity,” said Joseph, who is also an advocate of a Fair Open Skies, during a meeting with private sector tourism players in this city recently.

Roa and Joseph stressed that EO 29 “is against the Philippine
interest” and alleged that the “President was again misled by people who have personal interests.”

Joseph pointed out that “the President should have convened the stakeholders first before signing the executive order to get the real pulse of those who are in the industry,” said Joseph.

He said under EO29, foreign airlines will be allowed to fly freely into and out of the country while Philippine carriers are limited to flights specified in existing air agreements with other countries.

DOT 7 Director Rowena Montecillo, however, made assurances that the Government will not allow the apprehensions of those who oppose the open skies policy to happen. She said the plight of local carriers will always be put into consideration when negotiations with foreign airlines begin to take place.

“This (open skies policy) will not kill our local carriers. They are not being left out in the discussions,” Montecillo said, adding that the local carriers will still be prioritized.

She also stressed that the open skies policy will bring in more tourists to areas served by secondary airports because more foreign flights are certain to bring in tourists.

Montecillo made the assurance after Cebu Pacific, now the largest airline in the Philippines, also expressed concerns about certain provisions in the executive order allowing open skies in the country.

4. Philippine leader vows to open up aviation sector
(AFP) – Mar 10, 2011
SINGAPORE — Philippine President Benigno Aquino has vowed to open up his country's aviation sector to foreign competition in a bid to boost tourism, and appealed for greater Singaporean investment.
Speaking to business leaders in Singapore, Aquino said his government was finalising a decree that will allow foreign airlines to fly to major destinations in the country.
The executive order "will liberalise the entry of foreign carriers in a way that will not decimate our local carriers," said Aquino, who was elected nearly a year ago on promises to reform the economy and tackle corruption.
"Under this order, we will allow foreign carriers to fly into key destinations in the Philippines."
The Philippines has lagged behind Southeast Asian neighbours in the race to attract tourists despite boasting white-sand beaches, exotic diving spots and other natural wonders, partly because of poor transport across the archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.
Aquino also said he had given aviation officials one year to resolve issues that led Europe to ban Philippine carriers from flying to the continent and prompted a downgrade by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
"We are also addressing technical and regulatory issues that have been allowed to worsen in the previous decade. This led to the banning of Philippine aviation into Europe and the downgrading of Philippine carriers to category 2 under US FAA regulations," said Aquino.
"Once these bottlenecks have been resolved we will embark on an aggressive marketing campaign that will brand and sell the Philippines as a key tourist destination in the outside world."
Philippine carriers were stopped from expanding services to the United States in 2008 and banned from Europe in March 2010 over concerns airline safety was not in line with international standards.
Aquino also urged Singaporean businesses to take part in the Philippines' growth story.
"We invite all of you to be part of our own reconstruction. Your government has already signified its willingness to help a brother nation reach the same heights that you have reached," he said, noting that his country grew 7.3 percent last year.
Aquino is the son of Philippine democracy champion and former president Corazon Aquino. He won the May 2010 elections on a platform to fight corruption, which has plagued the Southeast Asian nation for decades.

NEHA JAIN

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