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Draft open skies EO to allow foreign carriers into Subic, Clark


Despite opposition from local airlines, the draft order for the government's open skies policy will be allowing the entry of non-designated carriers into the Clark and Subic freeport zones. Philippine Travel Agencies Association president Jose Clemente III told reporters on Tuesday that their group has agreed "in principle" to the proposal, which will be included in the draft amendments of EO 500-B. "In principle we agreed to open sky [policy] in Clark and Subic," Clemente III told reporters during the 3rd PTAA meeting in Tagaytay. According to Clemente the issue on reciprocity being raised by airline firms, in particular flag carrier Philippine Airlines, is a non- issue since their concerns are not valid. "Reciprocity is [just] a side issue. Why are we going to push through [with reciprocity] if we don't have the equipment," Clemente said. He said the reciprocity issue should be raised only in consideration of high traffic routes since this would generate more revenues for both the airline companies, the tourism and travel industry, and the government. "Reciprocity should be for the routes that we know that are high traffic like US, Autralia, Canada... but if you don't have the equipment why mount reciprocity?" For this year, the PTAA is targeting about 3.5 million tourist or about $4.2 billion income. - GMANews.TV