Thursday, November 25, 2010

The Philippines and China have agreed to hike the number of seat entitlements for flights to each country.

The Philippines and China have agreed to hike the number of seat entitlements for flights to each country.

Carmelo Arcilla, Civil Aviation Board (CAB) executive director, said the agreement signed by the two countries would raise the seat entitlements from 10,000 per week under a previous agreement to 13,500.
“Plus unlimited number of seats from points outside Manila to points outside Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai,” Arcilla said.
The higher number of seats would allow Philippine and Chinese carriers to apply for an increase in their flights to each country because of the additional passengers they would be allowed to accommodate.

At present, flag carrier Philippine Airlines and budget airline Cebu Pacific offer 50 and 41 flights per week, respectively, to China.
Arcilla earlier said that the additional seats would allow the Philippines to take advantage of opportunities in the world’s most populous nation and the second largest economy.

The liberalization of the Philippine air policy is part of the government’s tourism thrust.

The Aquino administration aims to have six million tourist arrivals by 2016 and earnings of around $4.6 billion, contributing 6.35 percent of gross domestic product.

Over the six-year period, the tourism industry is envisioned to create three million new jobs.
This year, government expects tourist arrivals to hit 3.3 million, a 10-percent growth from last year.
In 2009, international tourist arrivals went down by 3.9 percent.







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