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Emirates, Etihad flights to Duterte’s Davao City eyed after PHL-UAE air talks


Gulf carriers Emirates and Etihad Airways are expected to commit direct flights to Davao City when the bilateral air talks between the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates start in Cebu City on Wednesday.

President Rodrigo Duterte is mayor of Davao City for two decades before he ran for president in 2016.

"The talks are expected to be successful in obtaining the commitment of the two biggest UAE airlines to launch a historic milestone:  the first regular direct flights between the UAE and Davao International Airport," Philippine Airlines (PAL) said in a press statement.

Emirates will be serving Davao directly from its Dubai hub while Etihad Airways will serve the route from the capital Abu Dhabi.

The new Davao routes will be the first international routes from Mindanao outside the periphery of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The statement said the new flights "would cement the increased standing of the Mindanao region as an emerging tourism hub and economic engine in its own right, in addition to its longstanding role as the country’s agribusiness center."

PAL added the new routes could be welcome news for overseas Filipino workers from Mindanao and are based in the UAE as the Department of Labor and Employment is also in the process of establishing One Stop Service Centers for OFWs across the country to cater to their documentary needs.

The impending announcement is also a positive development for the country amid the issuance of travel advisories warning foreignes of security threats in Visayas and Mindanao.

"It would give travel industry stakeholders a platform on which to build up new promotional campaigns to attract tourists from the Middle East and environs," PAL said.

PAL said the new routes was a promising development amid the congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, where Emirates and Etihad already operate a combined 35 flights per week.

"If airlines like Emirates and Etihad are so bent on putting up more flights to the Philippines and are claiming to offer contributions in the form of increased tourism, trade and OFW servicing, then the country should direct them to put these resources and investments where they can truly count and bear fruit: by flying to Davao instead," it said.

PAL and Cebu Pacific fly a combined 17 weekly flights to the UAE and are also serving flights to Saudi Ararbia, Kuwait, and Qatar.

Meanwhile, PAL urged Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade to "prove that the Duterte administration can do better by engineering a landmark deal in the air talks" without worsening the NAIA congestion problems by additional flights bound for Manila. 

The DOTr, Civil Aeronautics Board, Department of Tourism, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department of Labor and Employment will attend the air talks with the UAE delegation.

PAL and Cebu Pacific are also expected attend the event, which will be held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City. —Joseph Tristan Roxas/NB, GMA News

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