Airlines, Airplanes and Airports - Compiled Threads [Archive] - Page 34

manchowyin

January 11th, 2008, 06:05 AM

PAL'S JAIME BAUTISTA
Original article at Orient Aviation
http://www.orientaviation.com/section.php?currenyIssue=I20071211161223-cpq0I&currentSection=coverstory&currentArticle=A20071203151224-94Wa1&

CITATION

Orient Aviation’s 2007 Person of the Year, Philippine Airlines (PAL) president, Jaime Bautista, has been the key player in formulating and implementing the airline’s 10-year rehabilitation plan, designed to appease creditors and rebuild the airline.

Formerly chief financial officer when PAL went into receivership with US$2.3 billion of debt in 1998 he became president in 2004. He has relentlessly driven down costs and improved systems and productivity, while at the same time coping with intense market pressures, including soaring fuel prices and severe competition. Perhaps most importantly, Bautista devoted a great deal of time improving staff morale, which was rock bottom in the late 1990s.

In its last financial year, PAL posted its largest profit in its 66-year history and Bautista was, in October, finally able to lead the carrier out of rehabilitation, two years ahead of schedule. Now, with a fleet modernization plan in place, he is consolidating the gains that have been made to ensure PAL returns to its place as one of the region’s premier airlines.

====

A DREAM COMES TRUE

Philippine Airlines (PAL) president, Jaime Bautista wears his heart on his sleeve.
Tom Ballantyne

Philippine Airlines (PAL) president, Jaime Bautista, wears his heart on his sleeve. As chief financial officer at the time, he took many of the airline’s financial troubles in the late 1990s personally.

Indeed life was tough for Bautista and PAL even before the carrier went into receivership in June 1998 and closed its doors for two weeks in September the same year.

And it’s been far from easy ever since. Few carriers have endured such a traumatic decade of restructure and reform as PAL has as it battled to recover from bankruptcy with debts of US$2.3 billion under a strict rehabilitation plan approved by the government.

Bautista, more than anyone else, has been central to the cause. And now, only weeks after officially throwing off the shackles of rehabilitation, the president has achieved his dream.

“I had a vision and that vision was very simple: for the airline to get out of rehabilitation, grow and become profitable. We have now made it official [getting out of rehab],” said Bautista.

“I was very much involved in formulating that vision so when we came out of rehab it was like a dream come true for me. I was the person who pushed for the plan. It has been a long eight years.”

The effort has paid off. In June, PAL reported net income of US$140.3 million for its financial year ending March 31, the largest profit in its 66-year history and confirmation it has returned to robust financial health eight years into its 10-year restructuring programme.

It was PAL’s third straight year of profit and a six-fold increase on the previous year’s $22.8 million. The profit came as PAL hit its highest load factors in 15 years – 76.8% – carrying 6.9 million passengers and raising revenue 12.8% to $1.39 billion.

“These gains sparked us to petition the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC], the Philippines corporate regulator] to allow PAL to exit receivership by the end of 2007, two years earlier than envisioned by the rehabilitation plan. They have granted our wish a little earlier than we expected,” said Bautista.

“We are proud to say we have a solid platform on which to grow and build
our future.”

One of the most trusted lieutenants of PAL owner, billionaire businessman, Lucio Tan, Bautista is a man for all seasons; modest, unassuming, but determined and steely strong.

Reflecting on those dark days of the late 1990s Bautista said: “PAL was in a steep nose dive and there was nothing anyone could do to arrest this crisis. But just before hitting the ground PAL pulled out of its tailspin.”

The rescue strategy for PAL was outlined in its rehabilitation plan, which was hammered out over months of tough negotiations with creditors, shareholders, unions and the government. It was approved by the SEC in June 1999.

One sticking point in the negotiations was a demand by creditors that their approval of the plan would be conditional on a guarantee of long-term industrial peace, which would involve suspension of the collective bargaining agreement between management and unions.

PAL had been hit hard by pilot and cabin crew strikes in 1998. “In effect our employees were being asked to give up their right to strike for 10 years,” said Bautista. “What if management turned its back on them? How would they counter the abuse of workers’ rights if that happened?

“To break the impasse our chairman, Dr Lucio Tan, made them an extraordinary gesture of sacrifice. He offered 60,000 of his own shares free to every employee. In return he challenged employees to match his commitment to the company by agreeing to suspend the collective bargaining agreement for 10 years while the rehab plan was being implemented.

“His message was: here is an opportunity to take charge of your destiny. You are now co-owners of this company. Go ahead and make it great.”

The unions agreed and PAL has not looked back since.

“Since then the rehab plan has been the blueprint for how we operate,” said Bautista.

Once the rehabilitation plan was underway a new management team was appointed. Tan called on 35-year PAL veteran, Avelino Zapanta, from retirement to take charge.

The now former CFO was out of sight, but far from out of the game. “I was with the office of the chairman [Lucio Tan]. The chairman told me I could not leave PAL, but had to operate from his office. I liaised between the office of the chairman and all the other departments. I was there making sure everything was going in the right direction and everybody was communicating,” said Bautista.

But he did much more than that, not only keeping in personal touch with sometimes nervous, often angry, creditors to keep them onside, but also formulating his “vision” for PAL’s future.

A year before PAL’s demise the airline refleeted. “I was the CFO when we borrowed all the money to finance new aircraft. The creditors were calling us names, saying we had promised everything and then defaulted,” he told Orient Aviation.

“I was still part of PAL so I continued to communicate with them. Not in an official capacity... but I called them and gave them updates because personally I had very good relationships with them. Officially, there were some problems between them and the airline, but when we started paying on time and we even started to pay our obligations ahead of schedule they started to relax.”

To date, PAL has paid off more than half of its massive debt. Repayments should be complete by 2012.

The rehabilitation plan was based on four cornerstones: market, product, finance and people.

Bautista said the people plan emerged as the most crucial element of the recovery.

PAL’s ownership in more than six decades had swung back and forth between government and the private sector. By the late 1990s staff morale was at rock bottom as employees realised the company was in crisis and feared for their jobs.

“Employees were learning of the company’s fate through the media. Nobody trusted anybody. It was every man for himself. We in senior management readily recognized that changing the negative culture in PAL was our top priority,” said Bautista.

A programme of regular dialogue with employees was instituted immediately, with senior management meeting staff wherever they felt comfortable; at airports, ticket offices, hangars and canteens.

“We talked about the company’s performance and planning and everything in between. Equally important, we also listened to what our employees had to say, their concerns, requests and suggestions. We levelled with them,” said the president.

“We never promised anything that we could not deliver, thereby gaining their trust. Our employees are now highly motivated and working in a milieu of industrial harmony. They are able to concentrate on their jobs, resulting in increased productivity and this has led to cost saving and improved revenue.”

To meet the requirements of the rehabilitation plan, PAL slashed its fleet from nearly 60 aircraft to 26. It retired, disposed of or returned to lessors many old aircraft types. Ten different models have been reduced to five today and this will be reduced to four next year. PAL cut its route network from 70 destinations to 34. And it trimmed staff from 13,500 to a little over 7,000.

In eight consecutive years from 2000-2007, PAL registered an operating profit every year and a net profit in six of those years. The only exceptions were in 2002 and 2004 when 9/11 and the Sars health crisis hit aviation worldwide.

And these were not the only external factors PAL had to deal with. Soaring fuel costs and, not least, competitors who were gaining unprecedented access to the Philippines under liberal aviation policies were also major hurdles it had to overcome.

Today, PAL is entering a new phase. “Looking ahead we foresee a strong environment for the industry, particularly in the Asia-Pacific,” said Bautista.

“Growth in regional air traffic is expected to remain robust, especially in China and India, averaging 5% to 6% annually over the next 20 years. This favourable outlook demands a new approach for PAL.

“For the past eight years our growth was controlled, careful and cautious under rehabilitation. But the new more competitive environment requires a bolder course of action and that is what we are doing.”

The most important among several initiatives is the modernization of the fleet. Late last year PAL began to acquire 20 A320 family aircraft. “Eight jets are in service and eight more are expected through to December 2008. We intend to exercise options on a further five A320s for delivery starting 2009,” said the PAL president.

“These aircraft are utilized mainly on our domestic network and on some Asian regional services.

“We have ordered six B777-300ERs to augment our long-haul operations to North America and other destinations. Deliveries will start in 2009 and continue until 2011.”

Within five years, PAL’s fleet will grow to 43 aircraft, seven planes more than today, but much younger than the current average age of eight years. The existing widebody fleet of B747-400s will undergo a $50 million refurbishment. “Compared to the massive fleet renewal programmes of other carriers ours is extremely modest. But looking at where PAL came from these last 10 years it is an audacious step, something unthinkable until recently,” said Bautista.

Only the lack of aircraft is holding PAL back from performing even better than its current record-breaking efforts. Bautista said PAL was also investing heavily in raising safety and security standards and upgrading technology, infrastructure and human resource assets.

“The objective of all those initiatives is, simply, to reshape PAL into a stronger, nimbler and even more efficient flag carrier for the Filippino nation and international passengers,” said Bautista.

He refutes his airline is being protected by its government and stresses that he is not against liberalisation. “Let me state very clearly that PAL welcomes responsible and equitable liberalization. In fact, we are knocking on the doors of many governments to secure more access to certain restricted markets. We want more flights to Canada. We want additional slots at Narita. We want access to every Japanese point. We want the removal of barriers that prevent us from flying to more places in the U.S.,” said Bautista.

But he insists liberalization must be equitable and Philippine carriers must receive the same privileges as their foreign competitors. “We are not asking to be pampered or sheltered. Equal opportunity and equal access to markets is what we ask from aviation authorities.”

Bautista pointed out that airlines in other ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries are state-owned airlines enjoying government support. “Unlike us, those carriers are protected from business failure. PAL has no room for error,” he said.

“Such an uneven situation does not make for a genuine liberalized aviation regime. It is therefore imperative that ASEAN require member nations to relinquish subsidies of all forms of state assistance to their flag carriers before the implementation of open skies within the group starting in December 2008.”

However, Bautista said PAL now has the strength to compete with all comers, whether legacy operators, global alliance members, subsidized and protected carriers or low-cost carriers.

“PAL’s road to success has been a long and winding one,” he said. “We have survived wars, revolutions and innumerable crises, including bankruptcy, over 66 years. As we move out of receivership we now enter a new phase of our history, that of sustained growth and profitability,” he said.

“PAL is now ready to emerge from its shell and rejoin the ranks of Asia’s leading carriers.”

richard24

January 11th, 2008, 06:17 AM

nagreply na sakin yung taga ceb pac., :)
http://janmania.blogspot.com/2008/01/cebu-pacifics-reply.html

Cebu Pacific's reply

This is an E-Mail reply from Cebu Pacific to the post: http://janmania.blogspot.com/2008/01/to-cebu-pacific.html
and that one, was a reply for:
http://janmania.blogspot.com/2008/01/cebu-pacific-horror.html

----------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Sir,

First, I would like to sincerely APOLOGIZE for the words that I've wrote against you. I would like to personally thank you for respecting my opinion. I hope that all people were like you. Im sure that even if you're on my position, you will also do your best to express your sympathy to the company & friends you were working for. You're such a person who has a big heart, open minded & can understand other's opinion.

But things happened consequently got worst on my side, I might be needing your help Sir.

Thank you very, very much! God Bless You.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I'd rather not post any reply anymore, coz' I'd like to end it with a positive note. :)

---------
I hope we all learned a valuable lesson in this experience.

We, the customers, should be very vigilant, especially in this time and age when giving good service is synonymous with keeping customers.

As for me, I would still ride Cebu Pacific in the future. I just hope I won't experience the same thing all over again, coz' if that happens, I'm sure you'd read it again in my blog!

Peace out!

kunoL8

January 11th, 2008, 06:20 AM

^^hahahaha! dinouble check ko pa sa xe.com.

ashton

January 11th, 2008, 06:30 AM

^ Was that a reply from them? Gosh, can't believe it. So rude. Ya good thing ya ended it in a good tone. You were the only one who sounded professionally, really. :)

richard24

January 11th, 2008, 06:32 AM

^^ yes., but most probably not from their customer service department., :)

but since she used an official email of cebu pacific (as in cebupacificair.com) i already assumed that she was representing her company., :)

(although i understand her case... she wasn't really representing her company but rather voicing out her own emotions.)

oz.fil

January 11th, 2008, 06:47 AM

$1B airport project approved in Central Philippines
+ - 22:06, January 10, 2008

The Philippine National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has approved a 4.17-billion-peso (1.03-billion U.S. dollar) project to build an airport in the country's central island of Bohol, the authority said on Thursday.

The airport supports the government's thrust to make Central Philippines a major tourist destination, NEDA said in a press release.

The project envisions opening up Central Visayas to more economic activities as well as enhancing the tourism potential of Bohol, it said.

"This is expected to reduce travel time and cost of transporting goods and people. The project will also serve as a gateway for major tourist destinations in Bohol from other parts of the country and abroad," it added.

The proposed airport will be built on 216 hectares of land and will have a runway of 2,500 meters by 45 meters and passenger and cargo terminal buildings.

The project will be funded wholly by government funds from the Manila International Airport Authority, the Department of Transportation and Communication and some of its attached agencies, and the Department of Tourism, NEDA said.

The project is expected to start July this year and finish by April 2010.

Source: here (http://news.nabou.com/cgi-bin/newsframe/437892yks4328903Dnabou2BInews421789994asgw3798etys6787/18A8047A97056E4D9B2CDA039BFF5E58backheadline3DHow2Bdo2BI2Bcut2Ba2Boout3Fnews26o3D0/FrameIt.cgi?Url=http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r1249291478)

Wow! Another $3 billion and we could have a Bangkok International Airport in the middle of the country! :lol:

Sou-jiro

January 11th, 2008, 06:49 AM

maganda ba Business class ng PAL A320s?...just wondering

absinthe_888

January 11th, 2008, 08:40 AM

diba 1 usd eh parang php 40.75? ang galing naman nang nagsulat nito, nagtaas agad nang 1:4 hahaha...eh bayaran na mga utang ng pinas kung ganun lolz...siguro 4B airport project, kz kung $1b eh pwedee na 2 na yung runway. mashado ata naexcite yung nagsulat.

swahi

January 11th, 2008, 09:58 AM

the best biz class seats of pal are on their a330/340. The 747 business class is not as good, as it reflects how old the plane is, old model na. The 320 business class, are around 6-8 seats only, and the seats are not as big as those on the a330 or the 747. Slightly bigger than those on economy, and the legroom, though bigger than economy, is nowhere near that on the 330. On some 320, there is a middle seat in between two business class seats, parang jump seat size.

But things happened consequently got worst on my side, I might be needing your help Sir.

What did she mean by this? Seems to be she got into hot waters with cebu pacific for her reply, that's why she is now asking for help?

richard24

January 11th, 2008, 10:51 AM

^^ most probably., :) looks like she'll contact me soon.,

brownman

January 11th, 2008, 11:24 AM

^^hahaha... $1B daw. panalo! ang laki ng tinaas ng piso! 4 na piso na lang ang dolyar!

Ako nga din nahilo dun eh. :lol:

ngprofflorida

January 11th, 2008, 12:49 PM

Contact Us About us Home AIRPORT OPENS JAN. 18
VP Noli to Grace New Airport Opening

Silay City - The New Bacolod-Silay Airport will officially open on January 18 at 3:30 p.m. with Vice President Noli De Castro as guest of honor.

This was confirmed by DOTC Airport Project Director Edgar Mangalili who said the much-awaited inauguration, ribbon-cutting, and unveiling of marker will also be attended by Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Pam-panga’s 2nd District Rep. Mikey Arroyo, Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura, JBIC Representative Hiroshi Togo and Negros Congressmen including the Lone District of Bacolod City.

The existing airport (Bacolod Airport) will be closed after the last scheduled flight on January 17, to pave the way for the first historic commercial landing of local airlines at the new airport from Manila with the following schedule:

Cebu Pacific- 5:10 a.m.
Philippine Airlines-6:40 a.m.
Air Philippines- 7:20 a.m.

Government agencies concerned with the Local Government Units here are currently working to install the lighting system along the road leading to the airport site and to put- up an affordable shuttle system to ply the approximately 20-kilometer travel from Ba-colod City that may take an hour ride during peak time.

The P5.6-billion airport, located at Brgy. Bagtic, Silay City, is of international standard and is built to cater to the domestic travels by an increasing number of air passengers and cargo traffic in Negros Occidental and its influence areas to boost economic development in the Visayas region and improved transportation safety, DOTC said.* (PIA-LOL/EAD)

http://www.bacolod-silayairport.com/

red_jasper

January 11th, 2008, 01:21 PM

GMA wants Panglao airport to break ground by July '08

Tagbilaran City (11 January) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered government agencies concerned to pave the way for the start of construction works on the P4.7-billion Panglao International Airport at Panglao Island in Bohol.

And in the President's timetable, she wants the bidding to be out by April this year so that the construction works can immediately start by July, Philippine Information sources said.

The move is in efforts to tap a segment of the growing regional travel market in Asia, thereby spurring economic development in the province and neighboring areas.

The President issued the order during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting in Malacanang.

The meeting tackled more programs and projects for rural development, among which was the approval of the Panglao Airport Development Project by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, chaired by the president herself.

The same sources bated that during the meeting, it was clarified that the project would be funded by internal government funds as ordered by the President in July 2005.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) would shoulder 90 percent of the P4.7-billion project cost. The remaining 10 percent would be funded by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), earlier reports show.

The construction of an airport in Panglao Island is economically viable, according to a feasibility study on the project, as air passenger arrivals in Bohol have been noted as "phenomenal".

Panglao, with its secluded white-sand beaches and the emerging eco-cultural destination in countless tourism circuits developed in Bohol have always been a favorite among foreign tourists.

Arrivals in Bohol, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT), have experienced a phenomenal growth in the last five years.

Air passenger arrivals in Bohol jumped from 31,641 in 2001 to 198,605 in 2005 and 241,484 in 2006.

The phenomenal arrivals have also accordingly spurred a high-level growth of the low-cost carrier market, and that is what exactly Panglao airport is about to experience, Malacanang sources said.

The Panglao Airport Development Project, covering 100 hectares, would have a 2.5-kilometer long runway that could accommodate the Airbus 320 and Boeing 737 series, the core fleet of most regional and budget airlines in Asia.

It could also accommodate bigger aircraft but only as an alternative airport for nearby Mactan Cebu International Airport in Cebu, according to earlier feasibility studies.

The project site, near Barangays Bolod, Danao and Tawala in Panglao town, edged out another possible site in Barangays Tabalong, Tinago and Bingag in the nearby town of Dauis, also in Panglao Island. (PIA (http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&r=&y=&mo=&fi=p080111.htm&no=62))

Chrisvenz

January 11th, 2008, 01:43 PM

ang aga namn ng 5J!!! its too early... uhm anu yan? departure sa Manila or arrival in Bacolod?

mwg12a

January 11th, 2008, 05:01 PM

^^
okey. the only reason why i brought up the issue about the overpriced c2 iced tea bottles was becaue i wanted to point out na ang CEB, hindi din sila nakakatulong sa pagtitipid ng mga passengers kasi binabawi lang naman nila sa mga binebenta nilang food on board.

Hindi naman "forced" ang pagbili ng mga "snacks" kung gusto ng pasahero na makatipid, sa labas na lang bumili o kumain. Isang oras lang naman usually ang mga biyahe sa domestic flights, bakit ba kailangan pang may mga mirienda ang 1 hour flight? Ako nga, sa PAL hindi ko nakakain ang snacks nila tapos tubig lang ang gusto ko KUNG gusto kong uminom pero usually, tinatangihan ko rin. Magbaon na lang tapos pa-simple.

I think I can understand why they have to jack up the price of their snacks and drinks. They are fully aware that alot of the passengers would not be buying these and that they usually buy the products in bulk, to break even or have a little bit of profit. I'm sure the 5J doesn't want to lose profit from give away items like food and drinks. All in all, I think it helps to manage the way it is because it is making the air travel more affordable now comparing to several years back.

richard24

January 11th, 2008, 05:04 PM

pwede naman magbaon ng food sa plane diba? may dala akong pepsi at chichirya nung nag ceb pac ako eh., :)

mwg12a

January 11th, 2008, 05:26 PM

Raven83

January 11th, 2008, 06:43 PM

They do not prohibit bringing in snacks and drinks, I wouldn't think so atleast. I don't take anything with me as far as snacks and drinks is concerned because it's only 45 mins to an hour to and from Cebu.

Well that's for now, Lance is mentioning about his airline in comparison to Air Asia and he was quoted saying "there's more room for cuts", Food doesnt really matter to me in domestic flights as PAL's Snack Pack isnt that a sort of food anyway(a mixed nuts called ding dong,and saltine crackers:nuts:). The thing is my legs are long and PAL's domestic economy class seats are barely enough for me, I mean price differential between the two isn't that far anyway...I'd rather be comfortable and be assured that if anything happens there's a next flight for me without paying horrendous amount and fighting with ingratious ground personnel...

sonnyville

January 11th, 2008, 09:13 PM

Hanjin wins $107M RP airport order

Reuters

SEOUL - South Korea's Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co Ltd said on Thursday it had won a 99.8 billion won ($106.9 million) airport construction order from the Philippines.

Hanjin said in a filing with the Korea Exchange that the construction would be completed by Dec. 27, 2011.

Sorry, but which airport is this? Is it Clark?

mwg12a

January 12th, 2008, 02:36 AM

sonnyville

January 12th, 2008, 03:09 AM

PAL today has applied with the U.S. Department of Transporation to begin service between Manila and San Diego, via Vancouver, with traffic rights on Vancouver-San Diego. No date or proposed schedule was given, outside of fourth quarter of 2008.
PAL applied for rights to operate Vancouver - San Diego. This will be 3 weekly A340 flight starting in the 4th quarter of 2008.

Hmm... I'll believe it when it happens. I thought I read this somewhere here, but I couldn't find it again when I was looking for the post. So forgive me if this was previously posted.

le Reine

January 12th, 2008, 03:13 AM

^^Laguindingan Airport in CDO

IsaganiZenze

January 12th, 2008, 03:15 AM

Singapore A380 rolls onto grass

A Singapore Airlines A380 landing in Sydney
The A380 superjumbo came into service in October last year
A flight by an Airbus A380 had to be abandoned after its tow-truck failed in Singapore, as it was being guided towards the runway for take-off.

The plane was preparing to fly to Sydney when part of it ended up on a grass verge, Singapore Airlines said.

The superjumbo's 446 passengers, who were moved to another plane, got off without injury.

The accident at Changi airport left the plane with minor damage, possibly to the tyres, according to the airline.

The accident occurred when the hydraulics failed on a truck towing the plane, which was not running on its own power at the time.

"The damage is very limited, it's superficial in the sense that there is possibly damage to tyres," airline spokesman Stephen Forshaw told AP news agency.

from BBC.com

sonnyville

January 12th, 2008, 03:17 AM

^^Laguindingan Airport in CDO

Thanks!

Raven83

January 12th, 2008, 05:05 AM

^^^^ @ Raven83, Is that what they serve now in PAL domestic flights? I guess it was different two years ago on my last visit to the Philippines. They served orange juice in a tetrapack, Goldilock's cake, nuts and one other thing. Whenever I fly with PAL to Cebu it's usually an A330/340 type and I find the leg room more spaceous than NWA's 747 economy. Were you usually in an A319/320? I have not been in those type of aircraft yet.

Sometimes it piece of aerated mamon but most of the time it's still that snack pack, what I do normally do is buy a pack of snacks outside the airport and bring them inside the plane. I would arrange them perfectly in my stray table just annoy my seatmates:lol:

PAL today has applied with the U.S. Department of Transporation to begin service between Manila and San Diego, via Vancouver, with traffic rights on Vancouver-San Diego. No date or proposed schedule was given, outside of fourth quarter of 2008.
PAL applied for rights to operate Vancouver - San Diego. This will be 3 weekly A340 flight starting in the 4th quarter of 2008.

Hmm... I'll believe it when it happens. I thought I read this somewhere here, but I couldn't find it again when I was looking for the post. So forgive me if this was previously posted.

Jaime Bautista was blabbering about this for ages, So i think this is for real, but Isn't San Diego Int'l too congested already? I remember visiting my friends there and there was this road which were closed because a US Coastguard plane crossing the road to get into the the other wherein their hangar is located. Anybody here heard about the new planned airport in San Diego?

sonnyville

January 12th, 2008, 06:41 AM

I flew on a domestic flight with PAL a while back, summer 2006, during my first trip home in many years. It was Manila to Cebu, and I must say, my first time at terminal 2 wasn't so great. Yes, I'm talking about the Centinnial Terminal. I have always heard wonderful things about it, I was truly excited to try this terminal 2 out for the very first time, but then, when I got inside, it was so packed, hardly any place to sit down. When I needed to use the restroom, there was a long line, some of the stalls were "out of service", it smelled-as if no one was paying attention to clean the restrooms-put some paper towels, liquid soap etc., and at the baggage claim at the arrival area, the lights were worn out and seemed like they were falling. Hopefully they have repaired those things and made advancing changes that will reverse the negative first-impression that left me wondering about the staffs, management, and the airports in the Philippines.

Anyways, it was on this particular fullhouse flight to Cebu that summer, that I noticed that many of PAL's snacks and other things that they offered on this short flight to Cebu, were mainly Korean products with PAL's logo on them. Crackers and cookies, they were all written in Korean, with the exception of Zesto. I had expected Sunflower crackers, but I really enjoyed this. They offered a lot on this short flight, including exceptionally delicious chocolate brownies with Cindy's brand on them. This was provided for everyone onboard, and something that I do appreciate of PAL, because even in the US, for a one hour flight, most US carriers don't offer anything (ahem... 5 hour flight LAX-Honolulu onboard United Airlines, expect you to pay five dollars for a golfball size dinner roll with scraps of cheese and ham inside-even a pandesal from the kanto would beat that!), or they expect you to pay. Atleast with PAL, libre pa, and the flight attendants were always checking in on everyone, asking if anyone wanted more or a drink. By far it was one of the best services that I've ever experienced with PAL. Same goes for the return flight back to Manila, although I wondered about a320 or a319 (not sure if it was a 320 or 319) with PAL, a bit cramped. I also questioned the cabin crew and the passengers, when they specifically said turn off cellphones, no one had done so, and phones were going off prior to landing. Nakaka inis, one passenger was yelling at their driver for not being at the airport already. Nakakahiya, ng parinig pa ng conversation, parang sino. It didn't seem like any of the cabin crew wanted to shut her up, or tell everyone who had their cellphones on their ears, or going off, to turn them off and respect the rules. Many of the Europeans looked shocked and appalled at those who decided to telebabad while the captain was making announcements, and after the cabin crew had announced for all electronic devices to be turned off. I was shocked myself, I thought a lot of my fellow kababayans would adhere and abide by the rules, or atleast understood in plain simple English and Tagalog. It was just so irritating.

Going to Cebu, I was on board one of PAL's airbus A330's and it was a nice experience. My first A330 experience, and it was with PAL. The cabin crew was excellent, and as it should be, many of the passengers were tourists, mostly European and North Americans. They were always smiling, very accomodating, and not so much rude as people often over exaggerate about PAL's flight attendants. Hinde naman lahat ganun. Although it was a wonderful flight, I noticed that the seats onboard were clean, but worn out. The lack of better inflight entertainment, I couldn't stand it any longer when they kept replaying short funny clips of pranks being done to people. A one hour, more or less flight to Cebu and they replayed the same thing over and over 4 times. It wasn't so funny after the the 3rd time.

gen1

January 12th, 2008, 06:50 AM

@richard what email address did cebu pacific use ? post it here so i can give them a shit load of bad karma.

I am fly cebu pacific all the time (as a matter of fact, I'm using cebu pac tom) but what they did to you was truly abominable !

Sinjin P.

January 12th, 2008, 06:58 AM

Hindi pa talaga ako nakasakay ng Cebu Pacific and maybe I'll never fly with them. :)

allan_dude

January 12th, 2008, 07:45 AM

Hawaiian Airlines to begin Honolulu-Manila direct flights April 14

Beginning April 14, traveling to and from Hawaii will be more convenient with new direct flights four times weekly by America’s No. 1 airline in the 2007 Airline Quality Ratings.

Philippine Consul General to Hawaii Ariel Y. Abadilla reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that Hawaiian Airlines (HA) has completed all US and Philippine government formalities and logistical requirements, enabling it to start its new nonstop service between Honolulu and Manila.

“The HA service to Manila is a welcome development for the large Filipino-American community in Hawaii as well as for the general public. This augurs well for the Philippine tourism industry and for business in general on both sides of the Pacific," the DFA said in a statement announcing the new airline route.

Manila is the first-ever destination in Asia for Hawaiian Airlines. The nonstop Honolulu-Manila-Honolulu flights are scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

“We see the Philippines economy growing and we are clearly aware of the strong ties between Hawaii and the Philippines," said Mark Dunkerley, HA president and chief executive officer.

Roundtrip fares for the new service begin at $848 in coach class. The airline has began selling tickets on its website and through its reservations call center based in the Philippines, as well as through travel agents in the US and the Philippines.

Philippine Airlines, the flag carrier, also flies direct to Honolulu on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. - GMANews.TV (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/76177/Hawaiian-Airlines-to-begin-Honolulu-Manila-direct-flights-April-14)

mambo

January 12th, 2008, 09:03 AM

Wow what an expensive infrastructure project for Bohol! I know they need a good airport but ...
wait a minute , i'm a fool for jumping right away.
4bpesos is NOT 1B$!!!!
Naloko nanaman ako. Putik na ano ba iyang reporting na iyan kahit arithmetic ba kailangan ang reader gumawa. Pambihira :bash:

actually its should be 101 million usd, as usual the press is dumb when it comes to figures they just dont double check before they print...

chocolato1000

January 12th, 2008, 09:48 AM

ALAMINOS CITY, Philippines -- The Regional Development Council in the Ilocos region is urging the Air Transportation Office to build an international airport in Alaminos City "to bolster the economic gains in Northern Luzon."

Alaminos is the trade, commercial and educational center in western Pangasinan, and home to the Hundred Islands National Park, one of the region's major tourist attractions.

The council, which coordinates and sets the direction of all economic and social development efforts in the province, cited the increase in the arrival of local and foreign tourists in the region as a result of the continued development of tourism facilities and amenities close to the Hundred Islands.

"A greater number of tourists are projected to visit the city and the surrounding tourist sites if only travel to western Pangasinan is shortened to less than an hour relative to the other major tourist attractions in Northern Philippines," the council said.

The council said the establishment of a regional airport in Alaminos was proposed as early as 2002 when initial discussions on its possible site were made.

In a letter, Joaquin Ernesto Po, Asian Spirit executive vice president, told Mayor Hernani Braganza that the company would use its turboprop aircraft to service the city once the airport is built.

“As this is now the trend in tourism, we hope that the proposed Alaminos City airport will be able to accommodate our jet aircraft and enable us to fly in tourists from Korea or Taiwan direct to the home of the world-famous Hundred Islands," Po said.

Braganza said the Department of Transportation and Communications has assured the city government that the P7.5 million need for the feasibility study has been included in the 2008 national budget.

He said a pre-feasibility study conducted by the ATO already showed that an international airport in the city was technically and financially viable.

Governor Amado Espino Jr. is batting for the rehabilitation of the Lingayen airstrip while the League of Mayors of Pangasinan has endorsed the establishment of the airport in Sta. Barbara town.

Albertini de Guzman, municipal administrator of Sta. Barbara town, said the feasibility study to be conducted by the DOTC includes Sta. Barbara.

gen1

January 12th, 2008, 10:06 AM

but you can't beat cebu pacific ticket prices. just bought february return tickets to davao for P3200. sa pal, one way pa lang yan.

ericlucky290

January 12th, 2008, 05:22 PM

absinthe_888

January 12th, 2008, 07:05 PM

Do we really need an airport in Pangasinan? If the government is serious in developing San Fernando Airport and we have DMIA south of Pangasinan, what I think needed most is a good road perhaps an expressway that will link NLEX-SCTEx to the rest of Northern Luzon.

well said...at kung ma extend pa nlex up to la union mas mabilis na byahe. maganda din kung pati yung northrail hanggang la union o farther up north pa.

le Reine

January 12th, 2008, 07:12 PM

^^true, the gov't must plan a good an decent road to the north if it plans to save than building airports....

Chrisvenz

January 13th, 2008, 02:20 AM

odyssey

January 13th, 2008, 03:56 AM

My fear of the giant A380, Read this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7182496.stm

Singapore A380 rolls onto grass
A Singapore Airlines A380 landing in Sydney
The A380 superjumbo came into service in October last year
A flight by an Airbus A380 had to be abandoned after its tow-truck failed in Singapore, as it was being guided towards the runway for take-off.

The plane was preparing to fly to Sydney when part of it ended up on a grass verge, Singapore Airlines said.

The superjumbo's 446 passengers, who were moved to another plane, got off without injury.

The accident at Changi airport left the plane with minor damage, possibly to the tyres, according to the airline.

The accident occurred when the hydraulics failed on a truck towing the plane, which was not running on its own power at the time.

"The damage is very limited, it's superficial in the sense that there is possibly damage to tyres," airline spokesman Stephen Forshaw told AP news agency.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44209000/jpg/_44209690_sing203.jpg

Mithril Cloud

January 13th, 2008, 04:41 AM

It's the trucks fault. After all, the plane was powered down at the time.

ngprofflorida

January 13th, 2008, 07:16 AM

ang aga namn ng 5J!!! its too early... uhm anu yan? departure sa Manila or arrival in Bacolod?

departure my friend.......

jogavilz

January 13th, 2008, 07:39 AM

Do we really need an airport in Pangasinan? If the government is serious in developing San Fernando Airport and we have DMIA south of Pangasinan, what I think needed most is a good road perhaps an expressway that will link NLEX-SCTEx to the rest of Northern Luzon.

ayusin na lang nila ang laoag international airport kasi may flights na sa hongkong and other parts of china.

pi_malejana

January 13th, 2008, 08:26 AM

^^i think what they're (pangasinan) planning is just a small airport that accepts flights from nearby countries to boost the tourist industry in the area, mainly the hundred islands and the bolinao beaches.. but i agree, a good road linking DMIA to other parts of N. Luzon will take away the need to build local airports..:)

le Reine

January 13th, 2008, 09:31 AM

^^yeah. There's the Clark airport already; and it accepts flights from various countries. My, it is not that far from Pangasinan. Just provide a decent road or expressway or railway.

diz

January 13th, 2008, 10:06 AM

^^ Nope. Not at all. It's just a two or three hour drive to Pangasinan through the McArthur highway. It can be much faster if an expressway was built.

a s i a n a

January 13th, 2008, 10:25 AM

http://www.microvoltradio.com/images/kpae2337.jpg
CX's new 777-300ER in the "Hong Kong: Asia's World City" livery

brownman

January 13th, 2008, 03:12 PM

^^Cathay in 'overalls'. Love it.

Btw, did PAL really ordered 2 of this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Dehav.dash8.750pix.jpg
a Bombardier DHC-8 Q300

If they really did, why?

Raven83

January 13th, 2008, 03:33 PM

^^ Nope that one on the picture was the Q400 version,PAL/Air Phil ordered the shorter Q300. Initial batch of which was delivered last Dec and is now used in the Manila-Caticlan route. It was bought because Caticlan's runway couldn't handle their jets. The aircraft is not in PAL's livery though. but one can buy a ticket through PAL's website.....

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee196/ravencute83/RP-C3016_1.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee196/ravencute83/RP-C3016_2.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee196/ravencute83/RP-C3016_3.jpg

brownman

January 13th, 2008, 03:39 PM

^^ Oh, ok. Thanks Raven.:)

I also heard that PAL is planning for a direct flight Manila-San Diego, but is still waiting for government approval.

Raven83

January 13th, 2008, 03:48 PM

brownman

January 13th, 2008, 03:50 PM

Jaime Bautista was blabbering about this for ages, So i think this is for real, but Isn't San Diego Int'l too congested already? I remember visiting my friends there and there was this road which were closed because a US Coastguard plane crossing the road to get into the the other wherein their hangar is located. Anybody here heard about the new planned airport in San Diego?

San Diego Int'l is one of the world's busiest airport w/ one runway right?

Raven83

January 13th, 2008, 04:25 PM

San Diego Int'l is one of the world's busiest airport w/ one runway right?

In US yeah, but still there's Gatwick in UK

Raven83

January 13th, 2008, 06:11 PM

More pic of Dash8-300 by Anone

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z133/ron973/DSC01494.jpg

sonnyville

January 13th, 2008, 09:47 PM

frankly... it's wonderful that PAL is trying to provide services among the Filipino communities, San Diego. pero short pa rin sila ng wide body/ longhaul aircrafts, unless those Boeing773's (Boeing 777-300) come in sooner to join the fleet. they will have to really come up with good timetables on those aircrafts, and because one of the 744 that PAL has leased is due to be returned or retired soon...something like that. so that leaves very limited schedules for those longhaul aircrafts that PAL uses on international flights, particularly the trans-pacific ones. Mmax out nila ang uses for those 744's and A343's. maybe this is just a test run for now, possibly for future flights in to Chicago, New Jersey, New York, or anywhere in the US or something... but hopefully they do decide and come up with the money to buy more longhaul planes so they can really expand in to other markets that are surprisingly in demand by noypi communities like San Diego.

hey PAL... dito naman sa IAD (Dulles Int. Airport)?? or atleast consider it?? sh*t...ang mahal ng JAL and KE IAD to MNL. i can't even begin to dream about flying in J in this route! ;) can do IAD-NewDelhi-MNL or IAD-SomeEuropeanCity-MNL or IAD-Dubai-MNL something of that sort. would make PAL compete with AI, those Middle Eastern carriers that have begun to dominate the skies, or with the European carriers and be transatlantic! should really look in to the east coast, via middle east, europe, and india. those are the fastest growing markets!

mwg12a

January 13th, 2008, 11:16 PM

^^ Yeah I think somene posted something about it already, How they are going to pull it out(they say it's fourth quarter this year) with their few fleet of aircraft,that I don't know. I was even puzzled how were they able to do a 17xweekly to LAX,12x weekly to SFO and 5xweekly to Vancouver and Las Vegas (including irregular flights) last December. Considering they only 5x747 and 4x A340:dunno:.....they must have been really stretching their fleet for that

Probably due to their planned PAL refleeting program and additional aircrafts like B777er. PAL is just in the process of applying for the "rights" to serve that route, so we would not know when they would announce to commence maiden flight to San Diego , it could be around 2010 or something for all we know. But, one thing I've noticed with PAL, they are targeting routes that is being served directly by other airlines such as YVR-Vegas route, now YVR-SDiego.

Do they hire Canadian/American based crews to serve YVR-Vegas or is it the same all Philippine based Filipino crews coming from Manila? I've never flown PAL yet to go to the Philippines, so, I have no idea.

chevy_boy

January 13th, 2008, 11:43 PM

but you can't beat cebu pacific ticket prices. just bought february return tickets to davao for P3200. sa pal, one way pa lang yan.

Check again... PAL is also offering cheap return tickets from feb 1 to may 31 (i guess)... and PAL's fares outside the promo is the same as cebu pacific's

Ex!lE

January 14th, 2008, 02:28 AM

Cebu Pacific claims top spot in 2007 as RP airline (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/jan/14/yehey/business/20080114bus9.html)

By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter

CEBU Pacific said the number of passengers it carried rose more than half last year on the back of rising domestic and international traffic.

The Gokongwei-led budget airline carried 5.49 million passengers last year, a 58-percent increase from a year earlier, and surpassing its target of 5 million passengers for 2007.

Of the total, domestic flyers accounted for 4.46 million , up 46.75 percent from 2006. The carrier attributed the increase to its expansion to routes such as Cebu-Kalibo, Cebu-Puerto Princesa, Cebu-Cagayan de Oro and Cebu-Butuan.

Domestic passenger load factor rose from 74.89 percent to 82.59 percent.

Candice Iyog, airline vice- president for marketing and products, said this makes Cebu Pacific the single largest domestic carrier in the country, offering the most routes, destinations and flights in the Philippines.

In addition, international traffic jumped by 140.77 percent to 1.03 million last year from 428,926 in 2006, as new destinations were introduced, including Jakarta, Taipei, Shanghai, Xiamen, Guangzhou and Macau.

“Our system-wide passenger load factor rose to 81.65 percent from 75.3 percent in 2006. This is a new milestone that will further encourage us to continue offering low fares, new planes, and quality service.” Iyog said.

The airline completed its refleeting program last year with 15 Airbus aircraft, including 10 A319s and five A320s, and it expects the arrival of 10 brand-new aircraft, such as six ATRs and four A320s in 2008 to service new domestic and international destinations.

Cebu Pacific earlier secured Securities and Exchange Com-mission approval to raise P6.64 billion in net proceeds through its first sale of its shares to the public this year. The proceeds will be used for its refleeting program.

The airline appointed UBS Investment Bank as the sole international underwriter, sole book runner and lead manager for the offering and ING Bank N.V. and First Metro Investments Corp. as joint domestic lead underwriters.

Iyog said the airline’s average fleet age stands at 1.7 years, excluding the 10 brand-new aircraft set for delivery this year, making Cebu Pacific the youngest fleet in the Philippines.”

The budget carrier plans to fly new routes this year such as Davao-Iloilo, Davao-Hong Kong and Davao-Singapore direct. Also, it will add a second daily frequency to Singapore and will mount additional flights to Macau making it a daily service from Manila beginning June 2008.

Cebu Pacific flies to 12 international and 21 domestic destinations, including Caticlan starting February. It operates international flights in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

ericlucky290

January 14th, 2008, 05:33 AM

Growth moves Cebu Pacific to acquire new planes (http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=112105)

By Riza T. Olchondra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 09:55pm (Mla time) 01/13/2008

MANILA, Philippines--CEBU PACIFIC will take delivery of new aircraft to support passenger growth and new routes to be opened this year, the airline announced over the weekend.

The budget carrier said it completed its refleeting in 2007 with the acquisition of 15 Airbus aircraft (10 A319 and five A320 units). It is now expecting the arrival of 10 brand-new aircraft in 2008 to service new domestic and international destinations.

Of the 10 new planes, six will be turboprops from Avions de Transport Regional, an Italian-French aircraft manufacturer, and four will be A320s.

The six ATRs are part of a package of 10 planes worth more than $178 million, while the four A320s are part of a deal for 20 Airbus jets worth a combined $1.3 billion.

Cebu Pacific needs the new planes to support growth. The budget carrier said it carried almost 5.5 million passengers in 2007, exceeding its target of five million passengers, representing a 58-percent increase from the 2006 level.

Of the 5.5 million, 4.5 million were domestic flyers--up 46.75 percent from 2006.

This is partly because of the budget carrier’s expansion to new routes: Cebu-Kalibo, Cebu-Puerto Princesa, Cebu-Cagayan de Oro and Cebu-Butuan. Domestic passenger load factor rose from 74.89 percent to 82.59 percent.

International traffic rose by 140.77 percent to one million in 2007 from 428,926 in 2006, as new destinations were introduced, including Jakarta, Taipei, Shanghai, Xiamen, Guangzhou and Macau.

"We are so happy to have surpassed our goal to carry five million passengers in 2007," said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and product. "Our system-wide passenger load factor rose to 81.65 percent from 75.3 percent in 2006. This is a new milestone that will further encourage us to continue offering low fares, new planes, and quality service."

ericlucky290

January 14th, 2008, 05:41 AM

Cagayan free port sets P650M in infra projects (http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=112100)

By Ronnel Domingo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 09:21pm (Mla time) 01/13/2008

MANILA, Philippines--THE CAGAYAN Economic Zone Authority is preparing the groundwork for a cyber park and an international airport, worth a total of at least P650 million, to rev up the development of the Cagayan free port as an investment and tourism center.

Ceza Administrator and chief executive Jose Mari B. Ponce said in an interview the cyber park would consist of a complex of 20 low-rise buildings that would serve as a common location for information technology-related operations.

Ponce said such locator-businesses would be mainly involved in i-gaming, of which there are 30 registered with Ceza.

"The cyber park would cost P500 million, including expenses for telecommunications facilities," he said.

Ponce explained that, currently, the 30 i-gaming operators were occupying disparate existing buildings within and outside the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport.

"We want to gather them in a business center within CSEZF," he said.

Further, Ponce said Ceza was undertaking a feasibility study for a planned P150-million international airport, which should be completed within six months.

Air traffic to and from CSEZF currently goes through an upgraded, Navy-owned airstrip in Sta. Ana town, which can accommodate 20-seater aircraft.

Ponce said the planned international airport is designed to accommodate Boeing 737s.

Situated at the northeasternmost tip of Luzon, the CSEZF occupies a 54,118.95-hectare area, which is being developed into a self-sustaining industrial, commercial, financial, investment, tourism and recreational center.

The CSEZF is envisioned to be a major transshipment point for trade in the Asia-Pacific, operating as a separate customs territory like Hong Kong, Singapore, Labuan in Malaysia, and Hamburg in Germany.

Based on the free port's development plan, construction of the new airport makes Stage 2 of a three-stage scheme to make Cagayan a destination and transshipment point for air cargo as well as passengers.

Stage 1 involves the upgrade of the Navy strip while Stage 3 covers the expansion of the airport that would be built under Stage 2.

To be situated in Gonzaga town, an initial runway length of 2,200 meters is recommended for the international airport, which would be improved to 3,000 meters at Stage 3.

kiretoce

January 14th, 2008, 05:43 AM

Do they hire Canadian/American based crews to serve YVR-Vegas or is it the same all Philippine based Filipino crews coming from Manila? I've never flown PAL yet to go to the Philippines, so, I have no idea.

I believe all their flight crews are based in the Philippines.

ericlucky290

January 14th, 2008, 05:43 AM

Sou-jiro

January 14th, 2008, 07:46 AM

^^ wow Grabe ang widebody aircraft utilisation ng PAL

that many flights with 5 X 744 (and soon to be four) then four A343s..

Im happy PAL is doing well now...but theyre wide body utilisation is Insane

I hope they can Add another two long haul Aircrafts...

Sayang di nag push through yung sa SAA 744 but if they're not happy I cant blame PAL

Sou-jiro

January 14th, 2008, 09:11 AM

offtopic

Just wondering if PAL has any tour packages for Japan...I dont recal seing on the website....

Its just that Im planning to book a tour package from Manila-Japan(not sure what city yet)

but i cant see on the were to book even travel aganecies in Manila dont have it

ianers_ianized

January 14th, 2008, 10:04 AM

Fraulein

January 14th, 2008, 11:53 AM

Guys,

Battle for low fares is until January 18 only.

Philippine Airlines 88 peso fare

Cebu Pacific 8 peso fare

All domestic routes

gen1

January 14th, 2008, 11:58 AM

Check again... PAL is also offering cheap return tickets from feb 1 to may 31 (i guess)... and PAL's fares outside the promo is the same as cebu pacific's

nope. pals fares outside the promo are generally more expensive than cebu pacific's. they have legacy costs.

that's why pal has air phil as its LCC counterpart

Fraulein

January 14th, 2008, 12:02 PM

Pero gen1, they compete with Cebu Pacific low fare drive. Kaya something interesting and competition between two is interesting... :)

gen1

January 14th, 2008, 12:30 PM

actually gumaya lang ang cebu pacific. cebu pacific completed a P1 fare promo a week or so prior. sinabayan lang ang pal ng maglabas ng promo ang pal. nang-aasar lang si lance :)

what's ok about the pal P88 fare promo is that you get air miles (i think). this is good if you're accumulating pal mileage.

Crazy4Airplanes

January 14th, 2008, 02:15 PM

just also saw in the newspaper today PAL roundtrip tickets manila to asia pacific destinations like hongkong singapore and bangkok, $98 plus charges and taxes. if you are leaving from cities outside manila, aditional $5 lang. mura.

barrera_marquez

January 14th, 2008, 02:35 PM

sino sa tingin ninyo ang unang bibili ng airbus a380. wow! sana makakita tayo niyan bago man lang bumaba si gloria.

english: who do you think will buy an airbus a380 first? wow! wish we could see one before pgma steps down.

a s i a n a

January 14th, 2008, 02:38 PM

^^Is there a need of English translation? Posts in Filipino seem to be ok, according to forum rules.

ar-Jay

January 14th, 2008, 03:05 PM

Hello!

new here!

brownman

January 14th, 2008, 03:09 PM

In US yeah, but still there's Gatwick in UK

But technically Gatwick has 2 runways diba? They're only using one runway.

kiretoce

January 14th, 2008, 03:10 PM

Is there a need of English translation? Posts in Filipino seem to be ok, according to forum rules.

Yes, Filipino and English are the languages approved in the Philippine Forum. But you can use your local regional languages only in the regional threads.

ar-Jay

January 14th, 2008, 03:10 PM

Looks like Cebu Pacific has 2 new routes :):

GO FARES FARE CONDITIONS (INTERNATIONAL)

Subject to applicable taxes, fees and surcharges

Flight changes are allowed but subject to availability and payment of any applicable fees and fare difference.
Rebooking penalty :
PHP 1500 / HKD 250 per sector per guest for Hong Kong flights
PHP 1500 / SGD 50 per sector per guest for Singapore flights
PHP 1500 / MYR 100 per sector per guest for Kuala Lumpur flights
PHP 1500 / THB 1200 per sector per guest for Bangkok flights
PHP 1500 / IDR 290,000 per sector per guest for Jakarta flights
PHP 1500 / TWD 700 per sector per guest for Taipei flights
PHP 1500 / CNY 250 per sector per guest for Shanghai flights
PHP 1500 / CNY 250 per sector per guest for Xiamen flights
PHP 1500 / CNY 250 per sector per guest for Guangzhou flights
PHP 1500 / MOP 250 per sector per guest for Macau flights
PHP 1500 / VND 550,000 per sector per guest for Hanoi flights
PHP 1500 / VND 550,000 per sector per guest for Saigon flights

Refund penalty :
PHP 1500 / HKD 250 per ticket for Hong Kong flights
PHP 1500 / SGD 50 per ticket for Singapore flights
PHP 1500 / MYR 100 per ticket for Kuala Lumpur flights
PHP 1500 / THB 1200 per ticket for Bangkok flights
PHP 1500 / IDR 290,000 per ticket for Jakarta flights
PHP 1500 / TWD 700 per ticket for Taipei flights
PHP 1500 / CNY 250 per ticket for Shanghai flights
PHP 1500 / CNY 250 per ticket for Xiamen flights
PHP 1500 / CNY 250 per ticket for Guangzhou flights
PHP 1500 / MOP 250 per ticket for Macau flights
PHP 1500 / VND 550,000 per sector per guest for Hanoi flights
PHP 1500 / VND 550,000 per sector per guest for Saigon flights

Passengers who failed to show up on their flight or failed to cancel their booking before 1400H the day prior to their scheduled departure will be charged the No-show / Non user's fee of PHP 1500 / HKD 250 per sector per guest for Hong Kong flights; PHP 1500 / SGD 50 per sector per guest for Singapore flights; PHP 1500 / MYR 100 per sector per guest for Kuala Lumpur flights; PHP 1500 / THB 1200 per sector per guest for Bangkok flights; PHP 1500 / IDR 290,000 per sector per guest for Jakarta flights; PHP 1500 / TWD 700 per sector per guest for Taipei flights; PHP 1500 / CNY 250 per sector per guest for Shanghai flights; PHP 1500 / CNY 250 per sector per guest for Xiamen flights; PHP 1500 / CNY 250 per sector per guest for Guangzhou flights; PHP 1500 / MOP 250 per sector per guest for Macau flights. PHP 1500 / VND 550,000 per sector per guest for Hanoi flights. PHP 1500 / VND 550,000 per sector per guest for Saigon flights.

Seats offered at this fare are limited and may not be available on all flights.

jogavilz

January 14th, 2008, 03:27 PM

Hello!

new here!

welcome to skyscrapercity!!!:cheers:

Arkdriver

January 14th, 2008, 04:16 PM

^^Is there a need of English translation? Posts in Filipino seem to be ok, according to forum rules.

i do need translation. i understand and speak little tagalog.

on another story...

the news is,as heard with one top mgmt guys (heard from a friend), is that BUPAK set a major expansion by going long haul Transpac. It will follow the model of Air ASIA X. Low Cost Long Haul No Frills Flight to US West and East Cost and Probably Europe or Middle East. The working group created last quarter to evaluate among the vying aircraft, A380, A350,A340-600, B747-800,B787 and B777-300ER already come up with its recommendation. The A380 was the logical choice as its 800 pax capacity single class type will yield tremendous ROI for the company but the initial US landing right permit and non-capability of our airport and terminal to handle A380 rule it out among the competitor. 747 and 340-600 had its fuel sucking liability having 4 engines while 350 and 787 will only be available by 2012-2013. So the logical choice is B777-300ER. The elder owner, JGJ, had made his initial go signal and plans are now on final stage with exploratory talks with Boeing to follow afterwards. The owners dream for CEBU PACIFIC to cross the PACIFIC in the near future is now a reality just like what Cathay Pacific dreamed in its early days of conception. The acquisition calls for six B777-300ER with an option to buy further -300Er or 787 in the future. Target date of operation(or ambition ) is 2009 but talks will be made with Singapore Airlines to lease some of their 300 and 200 for us to commence early operations while awaiting for the delivery of the ordered aircraft.

question:WHO THE F WILL FLY THE AIRBUS if the top 40 or so captains on seniority will move to the 777's? They couldnt even get enough qualified pilots for the ATR's.

another question: How does bupak intend to deal with ETOPS operator experience requirements with the 777? An excerpt about ETOPS.

The basic ETOPS AC stipulates that an operator must
generally operate an airframe-engine combination for one
(1) year, before being eligible for 120-minute ETOPS; and another
one (1) year, at 120-minute ETOPS, before being granted
180-minute ETOPS approval. For example, an operator who
currently has 180-minute ETOPS approval on one type of
airframe-engine or who is currently operating that route with an
older generation three- or four-engine airplane was required to
wait for up to two (2) years for such an approval. Such a
requirement could create undue economic and operational burdens
on operators. On the other hand, data indicates that compliance
with the alternative processes of this Appendix will provide for
successful ETOPS operation at earlier than the standard time
established in the basic AC.

Assuming bupak gets the 777s in 2009, the earliest transpac flight would be 2011.Rumor or not. We'll see on the coming month

Raven83

January 14th, 2008, 04:31 PM

i do need translation. i understand and speak little tagalog.

on another story...

the news is,as heard with one top mgmt guys (heard from a friend), is that BUPAK set a major expansion by going long haul Transpac. It will follow the model of Air ASIA X. Low Cost Long Haul No Frills Flight to US West and East Cost and Probably Europe or Middle East. The working group created last quarter to evaluate among the vying aircraft, A380, A350,A340-600, B747-800,B787 and B777-300ER already come up with its recommendation. The A380 was the logical choice as its 800 pax capacity single class type will yield tremendous ROI for the company but the initial US landing right permit and non-capability of our airport and terminal to handle A380 rule it out among the competitor. 747 and 340-600 had its fuel sucking liability having 4 engines while 350 and 787 will only be available by 2012-2013. So the logical choice is B777-300ER. The elder owner, JGJ, had made his initial go signal and plans are now on final stage with exploratory talks with Boeing to follow afterwards. The owners dream for CEBU PACIFIC to cross the PACIFIC in the near future is now a reality just like what Cathay Pacific dreamed in its early days of conception. The acquisition calls for six B777-300ER with an option to buy further -300Er or 787 in the future. Target date of operation(or ambition ) is 2009 but talks will be made with Singapore Airlines to lease some of their 300 and 200 for us to commence early operations while awaiting for the delivery of the ordered aircraft.

question:WHO THE F WILL FLY THE AIRBUS if the top 40 or so captains on seniority will move to the 777's? They couldnt even get enough qualified pilots for the ATR's.

Actually there's a lot of unemployed Pinoy pilot's out there, The only shortage is those who have total time of 1'500hrs, Which is normally the minimum here in this country. My dad's friend who happen to own a King Air. Has pilot who works for him just to increase his flying hours tells me how uneven is the opportunity for pinoy pilots. He mentioned that up to a hundred students are lining up in Gen Av area of NAIA each morning hoping to get chance to haul a fish or fly a cargo plane even if their just on the right seat just to gain more hours in their logbooks. Where in fact PAL and Cebu Pac pilots who merely graduated with 200hrs (or 48Hhrs in CebPac case+Sim on their MPL's) can actually be transferred to full A320 line training. He mentions how their Indian classmates can fly a 737 in India even with just a little over 100hrs of flying. That's why they are really wondering if there is really a shortage of pilot around here or it's just the local companies who's not opening their doors:dunno:........

swahi

January 14th, 2008, 05:17 PM

Arkdriver

January 14th, 2008, 05:18 PM

FYI, PAL, Bupak, SIA, Thai, Mas, Air Asia and other big and reputable airline does have their own cadetship system. They choose only the best to be trained as their pilot. There's no doubt there's many CPL or ATPL holders out there but what differentiates privates (who selfsponsor their license) and cadet pilots from reputable airline is that their natural ability. Now everyone with enough money can be a pilot, but once they graduated jobs are so hard to come by. Cadet pilots choosen by airlines are often can be regarded as cream of the crop where they have gone through rigorous tests and interview just to get a scholarship.

It's about having the aptitude. Though aptitude can be developed by training usually airlines would only accept people with developed or natural aptitude built in them before they can go to training. Unfortunately not only aptitude, psychomotor test was created to gauge one's ability to react accordingly to make split second decision in harsh and demanding environment.

Academic qualification. Not all pilots especially from GA posses the required academic qualification. That's why it's hard for them to find job. Most airline company require at least A-Level.

Hiring is not as easy as finding someone with valid license and rush them into training/conversion. Like other company you have to find the right people too...

As for the 200-ish hour pilot, i believe they came from the cadetship system, hence the company is obliged to hire them because they train them! They cant pick others with 500 TT on a single piston from GA over their own cadet....if they did, they must be stupid enough to waste P 2 million. (the cost of training a cadet).

Most with 600-700 will find jobs easily depending on the type they're flying. Turbine time worth more than piston time. 1500 hrs is the cutoff time to unfroze ATPL. All my friends flying for air asia and mas started their career with a modest 250-ish hour. Once you unfroze the ATPL you are qualified to be a captain.

1500 TT like you said a standard in pinas will be further lowered.

Raven83

January 14th, 2008, 05:33 PM

^^So coming from an insider it is advisable to join airline flight schools instead?

Arkdriver

January 14th, 2008, 05:39 PM

get scholarship if you could..not only save u millions of pesos but it's also guarantee you a job...i already experience how hard to get a job being a private (selfsponsor) my advice is try to avoid that, unless you cant wait. But worry not, if u a private and have no problem with aptitude or psychomotor you wont have much trouble applying for any airline, given they have vacancies and their policy...

a s i a n a

January 14th, 2008, 07:33 PM

Yes, Filipino and English are the languages approved in the Philippine Forum. But you can use your local regional languages only in the regional threads.

Oops sorry.

----

Ark, I'm excited with your news. Three-way competition for Pacific!

Sinjin P.

January 15th, 2008, 04:44 AM

RP aviation safety rank downgraded (http://businessmirror.com.ph/01152008/headlines04.html)

By Cher Jimenez and Recto Mercene
Reporters

PHILIPPINE aviation safety has been put under a cloud of doubt as the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded it to Category 2 from the top—and considered fully safe—Category 1 on findings that as a port of air-travel origin, it has failed to comply with aviation standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao).

Category 2 requires that carriers, although still allowed to fly to the United States at their current levels, will have to be under strict FAA surveillance.

Reacting to the FAA move, the chief of the Air Transportation Office (ATO) said Monday the only way for them to meet the standards is for the President to sign the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) bill so they would have enough financial resources to fund safety, maintenance and improvement programs.

“Let the government approve the CAAP bill so that our airports and their navigational aids would be upgraded and we would be able to come up to the standards set by the FAA,” said ATO chief Daniel Dimagiba during an exclusive interview with the BusinessMirror.

The Ato has a yearly budget of P1.3 billion, spent mostly on salaries and maintenance and operating expenses. He said that if Ato is to upgrade with modern navigational aids and communications system, it would need an additional outlay of about P1 billion more.

As of now, he added they have faulty navigational aids that need repair and passenger-terminal buildings have leaky toilets and dirty facilities.

Dimagiba said the Ato licensing section has not been modernized up to now and still issue licenses made of cardboard instead of plastic laminated ones, common in most branches of government. “We cannot afford to hire a librarian, who should take care of our extensive documentations.”

The most glaring of all, Dimagiba pointed out, is the lack of qualified check pilots, who should be trained in simulators available only abroad. He added that it costs $20,000 per training session, an amount that is “beyond our meager budget.”

The CAAP bill was passed by both Houses of Congress last December and now awaits the signature of the President. He said the prospective law’s “most outstanding feature is that it would have fiscal autonomy and be able to dispense most of its P3-billion income for local aviation modernization.”

Inocencio Incierto, chief of Air Navigational Services, said new navaids would cost about P120 million, a communications system about P150 million, and the upgrading of the Area Control System, which is the outlet for the Tagaytay radar, needs another P150 million.

The Philippines is not alone in Category 2, being joined by 19 other countries. The first batch of this category, including the Philippines, are those operating in the US at the time of the assessment: Bangladesh, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Guyana, Indonesia, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro, the former Yugoslavia, and Nauru.

sonnyville

January 15th, 2008, 06:37 AM

LOL....and we keep building new airports that are supposedly up to "international standards", yet we fail to comply with aviation standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. very rude awakening? or is the truth just beginning to sink in, as reported by the clip napost previously about our airports and aviation... ano ba yun balitang bayan or something? about one airport in samar or somewhere, they have to get the emergency fire truck of the airport to clear out the runway of people just so a plane can land. ang gulo talaga... and this doesn't get any better for us at all.... sakit tignan yang T3 na nakatiwangwang at nabubulok. ano.... mid 2008 na ang opening daw? sure... we'll see. and no wonder so many foreign airlines have stopped services to the RP....couldn't believe it when UA began regular services to vietnam. so it's a matter of time folks... vietnam and those other places that we looked back to behind our heels will soon catch up and surpass us. na una pa nga yung bagong terminal ng Ho Chi Minh Int. Airport sa NAIA T3. even vietnam airlines has significantly advanced incomparably to PAL. we ranked as having the most corrupted economy in southeast asia, despite the strong economy that has propelled the increase value of the peso. we can do a lot better talaga, way beyond our arch rival thailand. really hurts and upsetting to hear this news.

ianers_ianized

January 15th, 2008, 07:35 AM

^^^ Kakahiya tlga not to mention na before SGN, BKK and SIN Terminal are opening... ay isa pa ang new Beijing airport... T3 supposed to be a new design yet naungasan na tyo ng iba png countries na tinapatan pa ng mas modern at mgandang airport. Sad....

a s i a n a

January 15th, 2008, 12:14 PM

Arkdriver, are you airbrake23 in www.pprune.org?

ericlucky290

January 15th, 2008, 12:26 PM

PAL urges gov’t to recover safety rating with FAA (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/topstories/topstories/view/20080115-112496/PAL-urges-govt-to-recover-safety-rating-with-FAA)

By Riza T. Olchondra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 13:53:00 01/15/2008

MANILA, Philippines --Flag carrier Philippine Airlines called on the Philippine government to try to recover its safety rating with the United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), saying the carrier’s expansion plans might be stymied because FAA downgraded the country's rating in its international air safety assessment.

"If the Philippines does not recover the Category 1 rating within 18 months, it will seriously affect our plans. We are urging the government to exert effort to recover its Category 1 standing. We are willing to help and offer our resources," PAL president Jaime Bautista said in a press briefing Tuesday afternoon.

INQUIRER.net reported Monday that the FAA had included the Philippines in a list of countries that failed to "provide safety oversight of its air carrier operators in accordance with the minimum safety oversight standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization."

The downgrading affected PAL as the only Philippine flag carrier operating in the US.

Bautista said this might result in foregone revenue corresponding to 10-percent growth.

PAL is getting ready to mount additional flights to the US and Canada.

North America is PAL's biggest regional market, contributing 30 percent of the flag carrier's total revenue.

kiretoce

January 15th, 2008, 05:53 PM

US Downgrades Philippine Air Safety (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iaFaBlcwo9dfUboidUTXjJeZkeZwD8U6CM7G0)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has downgraded Philippine airline operations and put them under heightened scrutiny because of their inadequate safety standards, the U.S. Embassy said Tuesday.

The decision gives the Philippines a Category 2 rating along with countries such as Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia. It means Philippine carriers can continue flying to the U.S. but only "under heightened FAA surveillance," the embassy said in a statement.

The embassy also advised Americans flying to and from the Philippines to use carriers from countries whose civil aviation authorities meet international standards.

Only one of the country's carriers, Philippine Airlines, currently flies to the U.S. FAA rules stipulate that airlines from the Philippines cannot expand services to the United States under a Category 2 rating.

The FAA informed the Philippine government it has "serious concerns" about the oversight of Philippine air operations, which it said did not comply with International Civil Aviation Organization safety standards.

A spokesman for the Philippine Transport Department, Thompson Lantion, did not dispute the downgrade and said his department would conduct an in-house investigation to determine the shortcomings and fix them.

He said it the Philippine Congress must pass proposed legislation to create a Civil Aviation Authority to help modernize the country's system, and must secure more funds for safety and aircraft maintenance.

Both houses of the Philippine Congress have already approved the bill, but it still needs to be ratified in a joint session and signed by the president.

The head of the Air Transportation Office, Daniel Dimagiba, told the Business Mirror newspaper that his annual budget of $32 million was spent mostly on salaries and operating expenses. He said the office would need at least another $24 million to upgrade navigational equipment and communications — money that would become available when the CAA is set up.

On its Web site, the FAA says the Category 2 rating means the country lacks laws or regulations needed for the certification and oversight of airlines under minimum international standards.

Philippine Airlines President Jaime Bautista said the downgrade dampened hopes of increasing its 33 flights a week to the U.S. Also affected will be the delivery of six new Boeing 777-300ER airplanes ordered by the airline, he said.

He said the FAA rating does not reflect on the airline itself, but is an assessment of the government's compliance with international safety rules.

kiretoce

January 15th, 2008, 05:57 PM

Fly in aviation-safe airlines, US embassy tells citizens (http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20080115-112608/Fly-in-aviation-safe-airlines-US-embassy-tells-citizens)

MANILA, Philippines -- Following the Federal Aviation Administration's downgrading of the country's aviation safety ratings, the United States embassy here on Tuesday advised its citizens to fly in carriers from aviation-safe countries.

“Whenever possible, Americans traveling to and from the Philippines should fly to their destinations on international carriers from countries whose civil aviation authorities meet international aviation safety standards,” said the warden notice the embassy released.

At the same time, the embassy “strongly encourages” Americans in the Philippines, including short-term visitors, to register with the embassy in Manila.

“Registration may be done on-line at https://travelregistration.state.gov,” the notice said.

The US FAA on December 26, 2007 informed the Philippine government it has revised the latter's aviation safety oversight standing from Category 1 to Category 2 “due to serious concerns about the Philippine Air Transportation Office’s oversight of air carrier operations,” it said.

Category 2 indicates that the FAA has assessed the Philippines’ Civil Aviation Authority as not being in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) safety standards for the oversight of Philippine air carrier operations.

While in Category 2, Philippine air carriers will be permitted to continue current operations to the US, but will be under heightened FAA surveillance.

kiretoce

January 15th, 2008, 06:01 PM

Downgrade to hurt economy: PAL expansion to United States placed in limbo (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/jan/16/yehey/top_stories/20080116top1.html)

The downgrading of the Philippine aviationstandards will “gravely affect” the economy, officials said, even as Philippine Airlines announced Tuesday it may suspend expansion plans in the United States.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier downgraded the country’s rating to Category 2 from Category 1. Category 2 means the country’s civil aviation authorities do not provide safety oversight of its air carriers in accordance with the minimum safety oversight standards of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations created in 1944 to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world.

On Tuesday, Jaime Bautista, Philippine Airlines (PAL) president, said all local carriers will be affected by the downgrade, which requires carriers to maintain a status quo of its current services to the US.

Under Category 2, PAL is prohibited from increasing its 33 flights a week to the US and its territories and from changing the type or increasing the number of aircraft used on these routes.

Bautista said PAL is concerned about the negative effects of Category 2 on their plans to open services to San Diego, Chicago, New York and Saipan.

PAL’s US operations account for 30 percent of its total revenue. The airline currently flies to Los Angeles 11 flights a week, to San Francisco nine times, to Las Vegas via Vancouver five, to Honolulu three, and to Guam five.

Bautista said Category 2 will also “gravely” affect inbound and outbound tourism traffic, inbound balikbayan traffic and investment inflows to the Philippines. Foreigner might find it easier to go to other Asian destinations that are more accessible with more frequent flights from the US, and those coming to the Philippines could prefer foreign airlines.

Also to be affected, Bautista added, is the delivery of six brand-new Boeing 777-300ER airplanes that are to be deployed by PAL on the trans-Pacific flights beginning 2009.

While the FAA rating reflects its assessment of the compliance with international safety standards of Air Transportation Office (ATO), not on the local airline, Bautista said PAL had always adhered to those standards. As proof, he added that PAL is the only Philippine carrier to pass the strict International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit, or IOSA, an international evaluation system designed to access operational management and control system of an airline.

He added that PAL’s airplanes are now maintained by Lufthansa Technik Philippines. “We will continue to improve our services,” Bautista said. “Being the only Philippine carrier to fly to the US, we have a responsibility to our passengers to maintain our US operations in spite of the Category 2 rating.”

He added that PAL has set aside $40 million to reconfigure its four Boeing 747 aircraft this year and another $40 million next year for its Airbus 340 aircraft. PAL is willing to provide any assistance to ATO such as expertise, computers and funding, Bautista said.

Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific spokesman, said, “We are confident that our government will do all possible to revert the Philippines’ standing back to Category 1 as quickly as possible, seeing that the US is an important market for the Philippines.”

Blame game begins

The lack of resources—manpower, administration and technical equipment aspects—of the Air Transportation Office and the absence of a civil aviation authority are the reasons why the Federal Aviation Administration downgraded the country’s air safety, officials said.

Besides the Philippines, countries in Category 2 are Bangladesh, Belize, Bulgaria, Cote D’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Serbia and Monte-negro, Swaziland, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe.

“The downgrading of Philippine aviation safety oversight category from 1 to 2 is bad for the country’s image, flag-carriers, tourism and economy,” said Alfonso Cusi, general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority. He clarified that the downgrade was not based on the country’s airports but the civil aviation system.

Acting Assistant Secretary Daniel Dimagiba of the Air Transportation Office refused to talk to reporters and instead referred the media to the Department of Transportation and Communications.

Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza on Tuesday ordered Dimagiba to immediately evaluate, review, and undertake measures and course of action to ensure compliance with the audit results and recommendations of FAA.

Mendoza also ordered ATO to immediately fix the deficiencies identified in the International Aviation Safety Assessment conducted by the FAA in a bid to have the downgrade lifted.

He assured the public that the government will tap its available resources to ensure the lifting of the Category 2 rating of FAA.

Also, Mendoza appealed to Congress for the immediate passage of the bill creating the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, or the Civil Aviation Authority Act of 2008.

That bill—which has passed the House of Representatives and the Senate but not the bicameral committee—aims to convert ATO into a corporate entity, which will provide financial flexibility and enhance commercial operations and management efficiency.

It will strengthen the organizational structure of the authority to be more responsive to the needs of the country’s civil aviation industry. It will also enhance civil aviation regulation and enforcement, which is one of the deficiencies noted by FAA.

Cusi urged ATO to “work super fast to correct the deficiencies so we can regain Category 1.” He said the airport authority is “ready to assist and do its share to regain international confidence in the aviation oversight function of our carrier operations.”

Don’t fly on RP planes—US

“Whenever possible, Americans traveling to and from the Philippines should fly to their destinations on international carriers from countries whose civil aviation authorities meet international aviation safety standards for the oversight of their air carrier operations under the Federal Aviation Administration’s International Aviation Safety Assessment program,” the US Embassy said in its website Tuesday.

“While in Category 2, Philippine air carriers will be permitted to continue current operations to the United States, [they] will be under heightened FAA surveillance,” the embassy explained.

ashton

January 15th, 2008, 06:01 PM

^ :cry:

kiretoce

January 15th, 2008, 06:17 PM

Philippine Air says no changes to aircraft orders (http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSMAN986920080115)

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine Airlines Inc (PAL) said on Tuesday it would not alter aircraft orders from Boeing and Airbus despite recent flight restrictions on the Philippines imposed by U.S. aviation authorities.

"We are committed to take delivery of these planes and pay for these airplanes," Jaime Bautista, PAL president, told Reuters.

PAL is due to take delivery of five A320 jets this year and six new Boeing 777-300ER jets beginning in 2009.

The airline planned to use the Airbus jets to raise its flight frequencies to Guam, Saipan and Palau. PAL wants to fly to Guam daily from just five flights per week now.

PAL's orders of new Boeing 777-300ER jets were meant for its planned expansion of flight routes to the U.S. mainland. The airline currently flies just two routes to the continental United States -- San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has downgraded the country to category 2 from category 1 after inspections showed the Philippine Air Transportation Office (ATO) did not meet global safety standards.

As the only Philippine carrier flying to the United States, the downgrade means PAL cannot increase its flights to U.S. territories from the current 33 per week, as against an unlimited frequency under category 1.

Bautista said the restriction meant the airline would have to delay planned increases and expansion in flight frequencies to various U.S. routes until the ATO rectifies its deficiencies.

"It's not our making, but we are the ones most affected because of the deficiencies of the ATO," Bautista said, adding that he hopes local air transport authorities could comply with international standards within the year and fast track the return to unlimited air access to the United States.

diz

January 15th, 2008, 06:24 PM

Wow. The US is being to harsh. "Don't fly on RP planes". Psh.

Of course, that won't stop any OFW.

a s i a n a

January 15th, 2008, 06:34 PM

Since the blame game is starting, I'll start it with a blame to all corrupt government officials, the irresponsible DOTC head and, of course, the sleeping airport authority. I want them to be punished by bites of ants in front of FAA, just to have our category level upgraded back to one.

kiretoce

January 15th, 2008, 06:36 PM

Philippine Airlines wants to offer Vancouver-San Diego link (http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=96ee94df-42fc-473e-b88a-ad71cd073e4c)

Philippine Airlines wants to launch a new international service that would provide a three-times-a-week direct link between Vancouver and San Diego.

The airline has applied to authorities for the right to begin a Manila-Vancouver-San Diego service in the fourth quarter this year, using Airbus A340-300 aircraft.

If approved, University of B.C. associate business professor Marc-David Seidel said, it would help create additional competitive pressure on the Canadian airline "duopoly" of Air Canada and WestJet.

WestJet doesn't offer a direct service between Vancouver and San Diego but Air Canada launched a daily service between the two cities in December 2005 and uses a 93-seat Embraer aircraft on the route. Some U.S. airlines offer indirect service Vancouver-San Diego.

"Besides creating more price competition, I think having international carriers (like Philippine Airlines) come in like this helps bring a certain higher level of service," said Seidel, with the Sauder School of Business.

He said Asian carriers can often charge fairly low prices on the Vancouver-to-U.S. portions of international flights because most of their revenues come from passengers flying from Asia to the U.S.

"Anything else is really gravy," Seidel said. "So Philippine Airlines will be able to pick up some extra revenue in Vancouver."

He noted more international airlines, particularly Asian carriers, are considering Vancouver as their North American gateway stop on trans-Pacific flights.

Cathay Pacific offers a Vancouver-to-New-York service as part of its Hong Kong-New York flight while Japan Air Lines flies from Vancouver to Mexico City as part of its Tokyo-Mexico City route.

Philippine Airlines already connects Vancouver to Las Vegas on its Manila-Las Vegas service and Qantas flies from Vancouver to San Francisco.

Vancouver Airport Authority director of aviation marketing John Korenic said Vancouver airport officials expect to attract a lot of new business to "secondary" California markets such as San Diego and Sacramento, which are important for B.C. ski and cruise ship connections.

He said the summer season also presents opportunities for new services from Vancouver to the U.S. northeast while expanded service to Florida is a possibility.

===========================================================================

I'm interested in knowing if PAL will be interested in providing service to Florida (maybe here in Orlando, or maybe Tampa or Miami). :okay: They should build YVR as PR's North American hub, that all flights headed for NA cities gets routed via YVR.

bitoy

January 15th, 2008, 06:42 PM

Wow. The US is being to harsh. "Don't fly on RP planes". Psh.

Of course, that won't stop any OFW.

Not the US, the FAA downgraded the Philippine's rating to cat 2 since it did not provide the minimum requirements of (ICAO) (http://www.icao.int/)- This organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations created in 1944 to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world.

(in short, yung mga good mechanics and other aircraft personnels ay nasa abroad kasi) :lol:

kiretoce

January 15th, 2008, 06:44 PM

Travel boom spawns need for pilots (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news4_jan15_2008)

The country will need hundreds of new pilots over the next few years to support the rapid expansion of the airline industry and to offset the ongoing exodus of experienced flyers to foreign carriers.

Budget carrier Cebu Pacific said that in 2008 alone, it would recruit 100 pilots for its newly purchased aircraft.

Capt. Johnny Andrews, vice president for flight operations at Philippine Airlines, said several Asian airlines had been trying to recruit Filipino pilots with offers to double their salaries.

For example, he said, some Korean airlines were offering monthly salaries of $10,000 to $15,000 compared to the average of $4,000 to $6,000 that Filipino pilots received.

The air transport industry estimates that more than 120 Filipino pilots, mostly PAL captains, have left the country to join foreign airlines since 2000. Andrews said Philippine Airlines had 500 pilots now but only half were fully trained as captains.

He said that PAL was able to prevent more pilots from leaving by offering more competitive wages.

“Since last year, we have alleviated the problem by adjusting the pay of pilots and providing more benefits,” he said.

While the pilot population increased slightly when the retirement age for pilots was extended to 65 years, Andrews said the problem had not gone away.

“We cannot relax. We still see some problems,” he said, adding the recent policy of the International Civil Aviation Organization requiring international pilots to have a minimum understanding of the English language could put more pressure on Filipino airlines.

He said this requirement could lead airlines in China, Japan and Korea to look at the Philippines as a source of English-proficient pilots.

“This is another threat we are facing,” he said.

The Geneva-based International Air Transport Association said a shortage of highly-trained pilots threatened the continuous growth of the global air transport industry, as the industry might need to recruit some 17,000 new pilots annually because of the expected industry growth and retirements.

IATA estimated that by 2011, the number of air passengers would exceed 2.75 billion and the world’s airlines would move 36 million tons of air cargo.

“That’s 620 million more passengers and 7.5 million more tons of cargo than the industry handled in 2006,” IATA said.

The industry is estimated to have experienced a 5.9 percent growth in passenger traffic and 8.4 percent growth in revenues in 2007 despite the increase in oil prices, which averaged $73 a barrel.

Growth was even more spectacular in the Philippines, where budget carrier Cebu Pacific saw its passenger volume shoot up 58 percent year-on-year to over 5.49 million passengers in 2007.

PAL and its sister firm Air Philippines also reported more than 5 million domestic passengers as of Dec. 21, 2007.

PAL is buying six new Boeing 777s for delivery in September 2009. Andrews said PAL would be able to meet its pilot requirements until the completion of its expansion program, as long as no more captains left the company.

According to Clark Aviation, a British-owned pilot training institute based in Clark Field, Pampanga, the Philippines would need more than 300 new pilots to handle the new Airbus 320 aircraft to be delivered to local carriers during the period.

Clark Aviation introduced the streamlined multi-crew pilot licence training scheme in the country. It is now training 150 cadets from all over the world in Clark on the new scheme, including 65 cadets for Cebu Pacific.

Cebu Pacific plans to expand its fleet of A320s/319s to include 29 aircraft, plus the new ATR planes from France that will service Caticlan. The Gokongwei-owned carrier tapped the services of Clark Aviation to undertake an intensive 12-month training program for its candidates for pilots.

Cebu Pacific spokesman Candice Iyog said that, because of this partnership with Clark Aviation, “Cebu Pacific does not feel the shortage of pilots at this point.”

The carrier, now one of the five largest in Asia, has 123 pilots and plans to recruit another 100 this year.

IATA encourages companies to put more resources in training to allow airlines to meet their pilot requireents.

“It’s time to ring the warning bell. We must re-think pilot training and qualification to further improve safety and increase training capacity,” said IATA director general and chief executive Giovanni Bisignani.

bitoy

January 15th, 2008, 06:59 PM

^^ There are many Philippine Air Force pilots without planes to fly....

(set them free)!!!! :D

kiretoce

January 15th, 2008, 07:00 PM

RP carriers to suffer from FAA downgrade (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=20080115113)

The decision of a United States aviation watchdog to downgrade the Philippines’ rating in terms of compliance with international aviation safety standards would adversely affect Philippine Airlines (PAL)’s operations in the US, the flag carrier’s biggest revenue earner.

PAL said the aviation safety compliance rating downgrade would also affect tourism, cargo traffic flow between the US and the Philippines, as well as the current investment inflow into the country.

“Aside from withholding PAL’s expansion plans to the US, the Category 2 rating is also expected to gravely affect inbound and outbound tourism traffic including the balikbayan traffic that is PAL’s niche market, RP-US cargo traffic and investments inflow to the Philippines,” PAL president Jaime Bautista said.

PAL, however, said the country’s flag carrier would continue to fly to the US despite the downgrade of the Philippines’ rating from Category 1 to Category 2 by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

But PAL said the downgrade will prevent them from increasing flights to the US and its territories from the current 33 a week.

“We lament FAA’s decision. We will do everything we can so our loyal trans-Pacific passengers will not be inconvenienced by any effects of Category 2,” Bautista said.

“Being the only Philippine carrier to fly to the US, we have a responsibility to our passengers to maintain our US operations in spite of the Category 2 rating,” he said.

Under Category 2, PAL will be prevented from changing the type or increasing the number of aircraft used on its US routes.

The downgrade will also affect the delivery of PAL’s six brand-new Boeing 777-300ER airplanes next year. The planes were recently purchased by PAL for its planned US expansion and upgrading operations.

PAL said the downgrade will force them to forgo their plans for additional flights to San Diego, California, New York and Saipan.

PAL currently flies to Los Angeles 11 times a week; San Francisco, nine flights a week; Las Vegas via Vancouver, five flights a week; Honolulu, three flights a week and Guam, five flights a week.

Bautista urged the government to exert efforts to regain the country’s Category 1 rating.

“We hope the ATO (Air Transportation Office) will soon be able to rectify the assessed deficiencies in its air safety oversight functions so the country can revert to Category 1,” Bautista said.

Left to blame

Sen. Joker Arroyo said the country’s aviation officials should be blamed for the downgrade.

Arroyo warned the development will also force Congress to review the country’s aviation standards to avoid further embarrassment.

“Were our civil aviation authorities aware of the impending downgrade and yet the executive did not do anything to address FAA’s concerns? Why did the executive not inform Congress of the need for remedial legislation?” Arroyo asked.

“For one thing, during the current budget hearings, none of the government agencies involved in aviation asked for additional budget that they needed to meet FAA’s warnings. There was complete silence on the safety issues. Congress passed the budget they asked for,” he said.

According to Arroyo, he did not vote for the bill seeking to create the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) during deliberations on the measure in the Senate.

Arroyo even suspected the bill was meant to forestall the FAA downgrade.

“Or is it just a ruse so that another public corporation can be created that will collect its own revenues and spend it as it seems fit, without need to remit its income to the national treasury?” Arroyo argued.

“What is this? When the Senate was deliberating House Bill No. 3156 for concurrence creating the Civil Aviation Authority... the battle cry was that if the Senate did not pass it, the US Federal Aviation Administration would downgrade the Philippines’ Category A rating,” Arroyo claimed.

Arroyo noted the bill allows airport operations to be controlled by two independent government corporations, the existing Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and the proposed CAA, which can impose its own fees and collect and disburse revenues without government intervention.

Senators Edgardo Angara and Juan Ponce Enrile, however, proposed the passage of a bill creating the CAA as a single, centralized and autonomous civil aviation authority in the Philippines.

Angara stressed the need to create the CAA after US aviation officials presented their serious concerns over ATO’s inability to conduct consistent, effective safety oversight.

The ATO failed to meet the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Angara said, particularly the minimum standards set by the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

This convention requires a centralized civil aviation authority, already established in many countries, Angara explained.

Angara had warned the country’s civil aviation system would be downgraded if the concerns would not be addressed.

He said aviation systems of a country placed in a Category 2 status will be subjected to heightened FAA surveillance and will not be allowed to expand or change its services in the US.

The FAA had informed the Philippine government it has “serious concerns” about its oversight of air operations, which it said are not in compliance with ICAO safety standards.

The Philippines became the 20th country in the world to be placed in Category 2 rating.

The FAA said the Category 2 rating means that the country lacks laws or regulations necessary to support the certification and oversight of air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards.

It also lacks the technical expertise, resources, and organization to license air operations, does not have adequately trained and qualified technical personnel and does not provide adequate inspector guidance to ensure enforcement of minimum standards.

FAA rules stipulate that airlines from the Philippines cannot expand services to the United States while it carries a Category 2 rating.

“While in Category 2, Philippine air carriers will be permitted to continue current operations to the United States, but will be under heightened FAA surveillance,” the FAA said in a statement through the US Embassy in Manila.

In a warden message, the embassy advised US citizens traveling to and from the Philippines to use carriers from countries “whose civil aviation authorities meet international aviation safety standards for the oversight of their air carrier operations under the FAA’s International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program.”

Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza ordered ATO chief Daniel Dimagiba to “immediately evaluate, review, and undertake measures and course of action to ensure compliance with the audit results and recommendations of the FAA.”

Mendoza also ordered ATO to “immediately make the rectifications of the deficiencies identified in the International Aviation Safety Assessment conducted by the FAA in a bid to have the downgrade (from Category 1 to Category 2) lifted.”

Mendoza also appealed to Congress to approve the CAA bill.

Dimagiba added the only way for the government to secure more funds for safety and maintenance of aircraft was for President Arroyo to sign the CAA bill into law.

The bill was approved by the House of Representatives in December but cannot be implemented until it is signed by Mrs. Arroyo.

Malacañang officials were not immediately available for comment.

Wetlease

Bautista, on the other hand, said the downgrade will force PAL to “wetlease” an aircraft from an airline coming from a Category 1 country, as the carrier did back in the 1990s in the effort to add a flight route.

Under a wetlease agreement, PAL will be charged for the use of another carrier’s aircraft, its crew, maintenance and insurance costs.

Bautista stressed PAL had always adhered to international aviation safety standards being the only Philippine carrier to pass the strict IATA (International Air Transport Association) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA).

He explained the IOSA is an international evaluation system designed to assess operational management and control system of an airline.

Bautista said that PAL’s airplanes are maintained by Lufthansa Technik Philippines, an affiliate of the world’s largest maintenance service provider Lufthansa Technik of Germany.

On the other hand, Cebu Pacific Airways (CEB), the country’s second largest carrier, admitted the FAA downgrade will not affect their domestic operations.

Cebu Pacific, controlled by the JG Summit conglomerate of tycoon John Gokongwei, currently has no flights servicing the US.

CEB though joined PAL in calling for the government to take steps in regaining the Category 1 rating.

“We are confident that our government will do all possible to revert the Philippines’ standing back to category 1 as quickly as possible, seeing that the US is an important market for the Philippines,” said Candice Iyog, CEB corporate communications chief.

chocolato1000

January 15th, 2008, 07:42 PM

^^ There are many Philippine Air Force pilots without planes to fly....

(set them free)!!!! :D

there was a time when PAF had more P-51 Mustangs than it had pilots. :nuts: but in few years time, it seem that even east timor will have a better air superiority than the phils. :lol:

absinthe_888

January 15th, 2008, 08:59 PM

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/3246/frontcq4.jpg

Departing passengers undergo manual and machine security checks at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Photo By RUDY SANTOS

Ah...How many airports around the world are there that still require departing passengers to take off their shoes and belts? departing from MNL can be quite a hassle. Overkill and OA security for me.

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/9610/startoontp2.gif

EDITORIAL – Downgraded

Wednesday, January 16, 2008
http://philstar.com/index.php?Opinion&p=49&type=2&sec=25

Aviation officials blamed lawmakers; lawmakers tossed the blame back. As the blame game went on yesterday over the downgrade of the Philippines in terms of aviation safety, the US Embassy advised its citizens to avoid Philippine carriers until the country complies with air transportation safety standards.

The downgrade by the US Federal Aviation Administration followed an FAA audit in July last year, with the results submitted to the Philippine government in October. The audit aimed to assess efforts made by the Philippines to correct deficiencies in the country’s compliance with aviation safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. As far back as 1997, the ICAO had given the Philippines a Category 2 rating, which was later upgraded to Category 1 after the government promised to correct the deficiencies. Following the audit last year, the ATO undertook several measures, which the FAA deemed insufficient.

Now the Philippines is back to Category 2, in the same league as 20 other countries including Bangla-desh, Haiti and Zimbabwe. Officials of the Air Transportation Office blamed the mess on their limited funding and the lack of a law creating a Civil Aviation Authority with its own budget, independent of the Department of Transportation and Communications, which currently has jurisdiction over the ATO. A bill creating a CAA was approved late last year and is awaiting the signature of President Arroyo. But lawmakers pointed out that even without the bill, aviation officials could have undertaken measures to address several of the deficiencies noted by the ICAO.

Yesterday, DOTC officials belatedly scrambled to address the problem, ordering the ATO to come up with proposals and measures that will lead to an upgrade in safety assessment. Travelers can only hope this is not just a best-efforts pledge that will take another 10 years to bear fruit. Transport authorities have a dismal record in enforcing safety rules. In the maritime industry for example, where there are no international authorities breathing down the necks of Philippine authorities, maritime safety standards remain largely ignored. With the world monitoring Philippine compliance with aviation standards, transport authorities may do better in making air travel safe.

kiretoce

January 15th, 2008, 09:13 PM

terrapinoy

January 15th, 2008, 09:16 PM

^^ hehe the shoe part is usually not a problem, but I have to be careful about taking off the belt.:lol:

kiretoce

January 15th, 2008, 09:20 PM

^^ Wear elastic waistbands, or overalls. :lol:

absinthe_888

January 15th, 2008, 09:21 PM

me too, the belt's the problem. wahehehehe...thanks for the info kiretoce...

terrapinoy

January 15th, 2008, 10:07 PM

^^ Wear elastic waistbands, or overalls. :lol:

OT. :lol::lol: Something like an adult onesies or more elvis inspired?
http://www.halloweenfantasy.com/files/thumbnails/t_16241.jpg

kiretoce

January 15th, 2008, 10:15 PM

^^ :rofl: I said "overalls," not jumpsuits. :lol:

Rall

January 16th, 2008, 06:43 AM

Jarvijarv

January 16th, 2008, 07:07 AM

While the FAA rating reflects its assessment of the compliance with international safety standards of Air Transportation Office (ATO), not on the local airline, Bautista said PAL had always adhered to those standards. As proof, he added that PAL is the only Philippine carrier to pass the strict International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit, or IOSA, an international evaluation system designed to access operational management and control system of an airline<

HMMMMMM....so the FAA is blaming the downgrade on the ATO, NOT Philippine Airlines, correct? i'm getting ready to fly PAL, but this downgrade won't affect me...i think it's a positive thing if only to strengthen PAL's strict adherence to the IOSA...i feel SAFE flying PAL, been flying the national carrier for years.....DON'T BE DISCOURAGED BY THIS DOWNGRADE.....SUPPORT PAL!.......it's the ATO to blame!:nocrook:

pi_malejana

January 16th, 2008, 07:13 AM

^^ that's what i thought too.. if NAIA is their basis for the downgrade then it's not PAL's fault since they're just using the terminal and as you said they've (PAL) managed to comply even with the very strict air safety standards..
If only they have flights here in the northeast, i'll fly PAL...:)

aseantraveler

January 16th, 2008, 07:14 AM

Take-off for Cebu Air IPO
By Anette Jönsson, | 16 January 2008

Read this article online at:
http://www.financeasia.com/article.aspx?CIID=101079

The Philippines-based airline seeks to raise up to $288 million and is set to become the second listed low-cost carrier in Asia.
Cebu Air has started the formal marketing of its initial public offering, which aims to raise up to $288 million. If successful, the Philippines-based carrier, which operates under the name of Cebu Pacific, will become the second only low-budget airline in Asia to go public after Malaysia’s AirAsia.

It will also be the second only Philippines company to list this year after Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines which is due to close the international portion of its up to $136 million offering on Friday. The final price will be determined over the coming weekend. According to sources, that deal is going well and is already fully covered.

Coming at a time of jittery equity markets and high fuel prices, Cebu Air is offering its shares at a significant discount to AirAsia. It has also secured a commitment from Temasek Holdings to act as a cornerstone investor, which should help make other investors more confident about the offering. The Singapore investment company, which is also the controlling shareholder of Singapore Airlines, will buy the equivalent of a 5% stake in Cebu Air up to a maximum of $50 million worth of shares through the IPO and has agreed to a 90-day lock-up.

A well-managed, fast-growing and profitable low-cost airline, Cebu Air is an attractive investment proposition, says one source, adding that it has one of the highest utilisation rates and load factors in the world. It also has one of the youngest fleets in Asia, with an average aircraft age of approximately 20 months as at the end of 2007.

According to data provided by the company, the load factor stood at just over 81% in 2007, while its aircraft were used for 13 hours every day – a sharp improvement from 8.2 hours in 2006. It is achieving this partly through short turnaround times, partly by using its aircraft for shorter high-volume domestic flights during the day and then for longer international flights overnight. This makes a lot of sense given that many Philippine airports lack the infrastructure to operate after dark.

By offering a no-frills service, it has also been able to reduce its operating costs per available seat kilometre to Ps2.30 in the first nine months of 2007 from Ps3.03 in 2004.

At the same time the company is in the midst of an aggressive expansion phase with plans to add new aircraft and routes to meet the fast-growing demand from Philippine travellers, which will require a large amount of capital expenditures. However, it should also help underpin growth in Ebitda and net profit.

The company believes that demand will be underpinned by the fact that air travel in the Philippines in still at the very beginning of a period of high growth. According to Euromonitor research, the Philippines air travel market ranked second to last in Southeast Asia in terms of scheduled airline passengers in 2006, carrying only eight of every 100 people. This contrasts sharply with Singapore and Hong Kong, where 432 and 230 scheduled airline passengers were carried per 100 people, respectively.

Having started commercial passenger services in 1996, Cebu Air now operates on 44 routes, of which 28 are domestic and 16 international. It has a fleet of 15 aircraft – most of which it holds through financing leases. Last year it carried a total of 5.5 million passengers (81% on domestic routes), which up until the end of September represented 67% growth over the previous year. According to data compiled by the Civil Aeronautics Board, that makes Cebu Air the leading airline in the Philippines in terms of total passengers carried on domestic routes in the first three quarter of last year.

However, the company is also expanding its international operations and recently started flying to Taipei, Shanghai, Xiamen, Macau and Guangzhou. This year it also plans to add Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Bandar Seri Begawan to its growing international network.
The company has entered into operating lease arrangement for five new Airbus A320-214 aircraft. One of those was delivered in October last year and the company expects to take delivery of the other four this year.

It also plans to acquire up to another 20 new Airbus A320-200 starting from 2010. It has already placed firm orders for 10 of those and has secured options for up to five more. It also has rolling options for a further five. In addition, it plans to buy up to 18 new and smaller ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft that will allow for more efficient operations out of the smaller airports in the Philippines and will also enable the airline to service smaller markets. It has placed firm orders for 10 of those small planes, which are expected to be delivered from early 2010 to early 2011, and has options for four and rolling options for an additional four.

The UBS-led offering comprises 135.5 million shares, or 33.5% of the company, that are offered to investors at a price between Ps70 and Ps86 apiece. This is slightly below the maximum offering price of Ps95 per share that is referred to in the preliminary listing prospectus and will give a total base deal size of Ps9.48 billion to Ps11.65 billion ($235 million to $288 million). A 15% greenshoe could boost the size to as much as $331 million.

About 53% of the shares on offer are new, while the remaining 47% are existing shares that will be sold by JG Summit, a conglomerate controlled by the Gokongwei family that currently owns 100% of the airline. JG Summit’s stake will fall to 66.5% after the IPO, or to 61.5% if the greenshoe is also exercised in full.

Seventy percent of the deal will be offered to international investors, while the rest will be sold to domestic institutions and retail investors in a separate offering which will be jointly arranged by First Metro Investment Corp and ING Bank and will take place from January 29 to February 4. The final price will be determined on January 26 after the close of the international offering and the trading debut is scheduled for February 8.

The price range values the company at an enterprise value to Ebitda multiple of 6.9 to 7.9, which compares with an EV/Ebitda multiple of just over 12 for AirAsia. The same range translates into a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.1 to 12.4, although because of the high depreciation and amortisation costs sources say few investors look at the company on that basis.

Ebitda doubled in 2006 to Ps1.66 billion ($36.8 million) and in the first nine months of 2007 had already increased 2.5 times over the year-earlier period to Ps4.16 billion. Net profit increased 10-fold in the nine months to September from a year earlier to Ps2.53 billion.

Among the key risks that could de-rail this strong performance are rising oil prices – fuel costs accounted for 81.3% of total expenses in the nine months to September last year – a long-term debt to equity ratio of four to one, the execution of its aggressive growth strategy and increasing competition in the budget segment of the market, especially on the international routes.

n773ph

January 16th, 2008, 07:26 AM

15 January 2008
PAL still to fly to US despite Category 2

Philippine Airlines will continue to fly to the US, although under certain restrictions, despite the downgrading of the country to a Category 2 rating by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).

PAL President Jaime Bautista said: “Being the only Philippine carrier to fly to the US, we have a responsibility to our passengers to maintain our US operations in spite of the Category 2 rating.”

All local airlines will be affected by the Category 2 rating which requires PAL to maintain a status quo of its current service to the US.

“We lament FAA’s decision. We will do everything we can so our loyal trans-Pacific passengers will not be inconvenienced by any effects of Category 2,” said Mr. Bautista.

Under Category 2, PAL is prohibited from increasing its 33 flights a week to the US and its territories and from changing the type or increasing the number of aircraft used on these routes. Also to be affected is the delivery, beginning 2009, of six brand-new Boeing 777-300ER airplanes, to be deployed by PAL on the trans-Pacific flights.

The PAL President also expressed concern on the negative effect of Category 2 to PAL’s plans to open service to San Diego, Chicago, New York and Saipan.

Mr. Bautista added, “We hope the ATO will soon be able to rectify the assessed deficiencies in its air safety oversight functions so the country can revert to Category 1.”

While the FAA rating reflects its assessment of the ATO’s compliance to international safety standards and not on the local airline, Mr. Bautista said PAL had always adhered to those standards as proven by PAL being the only Philippine carrier to pass the strict IATA (International Air Transport Association) Operational Safety Audit or IOSA – a international evaluation system designed to assess operational management and control system of an airline.

The PAL president added that PAL’s airplanes are currently maintained by Lufthansa Technik Philippines, an affiliate of the world’s largest maintenance service provider – Lufthansa Technik of Germany.

Aside from withholding PAL’s expansion plans to the US, the Category 2 rating is also expected to gravely affect inbound and outbound tourism traffic (including the balikbayan traffic that is PAL’s niche market), RP-US cargo traffic and investments inflow to the Philippines.

PAL currently flies to Los Angeles (11 flights a week), San Francisco (9), Las Vegas via Vancouver (5), Honolulu (3) and Guam (5).

PAL will only be permitted to add a flight or route if it wetleases an aircraft from an airline coming from a Category 1 country, as PAL did back in the mid-1990’s. Under a wetlease agreement, PAL is charged for the use of another carrier’s aircraft, its crew, maintenance and insurance cost.

kiretoce

January 16th, 2008, 07:31 AM

The PAL President also expressed concern on the negative effect of Category 2 to PAL’s plans to open service to San Diego, Chicago, New York and Saipan.

Guess that answers your query @pi_malejana. It's in the plans, but with the downgrade, those plans might be shelved indefinitely. :ohno:

n773ph

January 16th, 2008, 07:37 AM

i'm posting the following info from philippineairlines.com. i was going to upload the .pdf file here as an attachment but i don't have that privilege.

RAMIFICATIONS of the Category 2 rating by the US FAA on the Philippines
(downloaded from philippineairlines.com)

• The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducts regular assessment of the civil aviation authorities (CAAs) of countries with air carriers that operate to the US as part of their International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program. The aim is to determine compliance with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations agency that promotes the development of international air transport.* The IASA reviews the safety oversight of the country’s CAA. It is not a safety assessment of any air carrier.

o The FAA rates countries as:

�� Category 1 – a country’s CAA has been found to license and oversee air carriers in accordance with ICAO aviation safety standards;

�� Category 2 – a country’s CAA does not provide safety oversight of its air carriers in accordance with the minimum safety oversight standards of ICAO.

• On July 23-27, 2007, the FAA conducted an IASA audit on the Philippine Air Transportation Office (RP-ATO). Their findings were presented to Philippine government representatives on Oct. 26, 2007 with a request for a final discussion in Manila. During the Nov. 29, 2007 final discussion meeting, the action plan and corrective measures taken by RP-ATO to improve its safety oversight was reviewed.

o Results of the IASA and their review during the final discussion prompted the FAA to downgrade the Philippines from Category 1 to Category 2.

o Philippine government representatives, particularly from the ATO and Congress, admitted the deficiencies and vowed to undertake corrective measures, including revising/updating of safety policies and procedures, hiring/training of qualified technical inspectors and passage of pertinent civil aviation laws.

o The FAA will revert the Philippines back to Category 1 only after the ATO shall have passed the next periodic review.

o Areas of review include primary aviation legislation, specific operating regulations, technical guidance, qualified technical personnel, licensing and certification obligations, continued surveillance obligations and resolution of safety issues.

• Restrictions imposed under the Category 2 rating will affect not just the aviation industry but all other sectors, practically the entire Philippine economy, but most directly the tourism sector –

o When Indonesia was downgraded to Category 2 last year, the FAA issued an advisory to “US citizens not to fly on Indonesian airlines.”

�� An audit by the Indonesian CAA found that none of the nation’s airlines met
international safety standards. The audit followed several fatal accidents.

o Category 2 will also gravely affect –

�� inbound and outbound tourism traffic

�� inbound balikbayan traffic

�� RP-US cargo traffic

�� Investment inflow to RP

___________________________________

* The ICAO sets international civil aviation safety standards. It will be up to the member-states, including the Philippines, to adopt these standards.

o RP will suffer from the negative perception that our country is not a safe destination.

o With the “Open Skies” policy prevailing between RP and US, American carriers are free to fly to the Philippines with unrestricted destinations and frequencies, but Philippine carriers are denied the same access because of Category 2.

�� Hawaiian Airlines will soon be operating regular service to Manila, clearly showing how US carriers intend to take advantage of the situation.

• Despite the Category 2 rating, Philippine Airlines (PAL) remains the sole Philippine carrier that provides service to the US and its territories.

o On the other hand, other local airlines, like Cebu Pacific, are stymied from pushing through with any plans to fly on US routes while the Category 2 is enforced.

o The Category 2 situation also reinforces the safety issue for low-cost carriers that have emerged in recent years in the region where the track record of discount airlines have created “worrying trends”.

�� According to a New York Times article, “The expansion of low-cost carriers and the boom in travel in (the region) has created worrying trends … (The) explosive growth can also make companies reckless.”

�� Apparently, the boom in the emergence of low-cost carriers has put serious questions on their safety records and the safety oversight functions of governments.

• While the Category 2 downgrading reflects the deficiencies in the safety oversight functions of the ATO, PAL has maintained an independent record of strict adherence to international safety standards, as reflected in –

o PAL passing the IATA (International Air Transport Association) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) in 2007. IOSA is an internationally recognized and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control system of an airline.

o PAL’s fleet of aircraft being maintained by Lufthansa Technik Philippines, an affiliate of the world’s largest maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service provider, Lufthansa Technik of Germany.

o PAL’s continuing safety audits** to ensure that its operations and the maintenance of its fleet of aircraft always meet the quality standards of the US FAA, French DGAC, European Aviation Safety Agency and the RP-ATO, as well as the international aviation industry standards of IATA.

• While under Category 2, PAL is forced to maintain a status quo of its current US operations.

o PAL cannot –

�� increase the number of flights to the US and its territories;

�� change the type or increase the number of aircraft utilized on US routes;

�� add new routes or destinations in the US;

o PAL will only be permitted to add a new route or destination if we use an aircraft that is wet-leased from an airline that comes from a Category 1 country. Under a wet-lease agreement, a carrier is charged for the use of another airline’s aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance cost.

___________________________________
** Although the most important, safety is only one of the quality standards. PAL audits internally its own operations. It also audits the maintenance of its aircraft, its maintenance service provider, the quality of its fuels, its contractors, suppliers, etc., on a continuing basis.

• Being the only Philippine air carrier with scheduled flights to the US, PAL will have to bear the brunt of the ill-effects of the Category 2 downgrading.

o PAL’s current US operations consist of:

�� 33 flights per week between Manila and five US points

• Los Angeles – 11 flights weekly

• San Francisco – 9 flights weekly

• Las Vegas (via Vancouver) – 5 flights weekly

• Honolulu – 3 flights weekly

• Guam – 5 flights weekly

o All five of PAL’s Boeing 747-400 aircraft are deployed to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Other PAL aircraft utilized on the trans-Pacific routes:

�� Airbus A340-300 – Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Honolulu

�� Airbus A330-300 – Honolulu and Guam

�� Airbus A320 – Guam

o PAL may not be able to utilize its ordered six brand-new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft due for delivery starting end of 2009.

• Other ramifications of RP’s downgrading to Category 2:

o PAL might put on hold its plans to expand services to San Diego, Chicago, New York and Saipan.

o The US operations comprise PAL’s most vital and high-traffic region.

Historical rejoinder -
In the mid-1990s, PAL suffered the backlash of a similar Category 2 experience –

• The FAA also downgraded the country to Category 2 in 1994.

• PAL was only able to operate the new Manila-Seoul-Los Angeles and Manila-Vancouver-New York routes by using a wetleased MD-11 aircraft from World Airways, a US carrier, in accordance with the restrictions of Category 2. (PAL was charged substantially by World Airways for the use of its MD-11, crew, maintenance and insurance costs.)

• Three years later, PAL was forced to suspend these two new routes after suffering heavy losses related to the high wetlease costs.

• Category 1 was restored in November 1997 after then President Fidel V. Ramos convinced FAA officials, during his trip to Seattle, that Philippine air transport authorities have properly rectified the deficiencies in air safety compliance.

Version 1
011508

IASA Results Definitions

The FAA has established two ratings for the status of countries at the time of the assessment: does comply with ICAO standards, and does not comply with ICAO standards.

They are defined as follows:

• Category 1, Does Comply with ICAO Standards: A country's civil aviation authority has been assessed by FAA inspectors and has been found to license and oversee air carriers in accordance with ICAO aviation safety standards.

• Category 2, Does Not Comply with ICAO Standards: The Federal Aviation Administration assessed this country's civil aviation authority (CAA) and determined that it does not provide safety oversight of its air carrier operators in accordance with the minimum safety oversight standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

This rating is applied if one or more of the following deficiencies are identified:

1. the country lacks laws or regulations necessary to support the certification and oversight of air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards;

2. the CAA lacks the technical expertise, resources, and organization to license or oversee air carrier operations;

3. the CAA does not have adequately trained and qualified technical personnel;

4. the CAA does not provide adequate inspector guidance to ensure enforcement of, and compliance with, minimum international standards; AND

5. the CAA has insufficient documentation and records of certification and inadequate continuing oversight and surveillance of air carrier operations.

This category consists of two groups of countries.

• One group are countries that have air carriers with existing operations to the United States at the time of the assessment. While in Category 2 status, carriers from these countries will be permitted to continue operations at current levels under heightened FAA surveillance. Expansion or changes in
services to the United States by such carriers are not permitted while in category 2, although new services will be permitted if operated using aircraft wet-leased from a duly authorized and properly supervised U.S. carrier or a foreign air carrier from a category 1 country that is authorized to serve the United States using its own aircraft.

• The second group are countries that do not have air carriers with existing operations to the United States at the time of the assessment. Carriers from these countries will not be permitted to commence service to the United States while in Category 2 status, although they may conduct services if operated using aircraft wet-leased from a duly authorized and properly supervised U.S. carrier or a foreign air carrier from a Category 1 country that is authorized to serve the United States with its own aircraft.

No other difference is made between these two groups of countries while in a category 2 status.

Note — For those countries not serving the U.S. at the time of the assessment, an asterisk "*" will be added to their Category 2 determination

reading the ramifications just makes me so sick of our government.

here's the link to download the file: http://www.philippineairlines.com/files/ramifications_version_1.pdf

ericlucky290

January 16th, 2008, 08:12 AM

Is this downgrade affects all airports in the Philippines? :down: I hope not !!!

chocolato1000

January 16th, 2008, 08:12 AM

MANILA, Philippines -- The government in the Philippines has ordered an air safety audit after a downgrading by US regulators hit its national flag carrier, a senior official said Wednesday.

It follows an announcement by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that it had downgraded the country's ratings from Category 1 to Category 2 to reflect safety concerns.

The revision affects Philippine Airlines (PAL), the only Filipino airline that flies to the United States -- routes which account for 30 percent of its operating revenues.

Among the FAA's concerns were outdated aviation regulations, poor training programs for safety inspectors, and sub-standard licensing for air frame and engine inspectors.

PAL said the FAA downgrade meant it would not be allowed to fly to new US cities or change the type of aircraft used on existing US destinations.

In a statement, Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza said he had ordered a review into the deficiencies identified by the FAA, and vowed to rectify the problems.

He said the Air Transportation Office, which is responsible for regulating air safety in the Philippines, was working with experts from the International Civil Aviation Organization to address the problems.

Mendoza promised Manila would "tap its available resources" to provide the solutions.

"In effect the ATO has addressed and [is] continuously addressing the other deficiencies as per the FAA safety audit," he said.

He also urged parliament to speed up passage of a bill that would create a Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines to replace the ATO.

PAL said Tuesday that the Category 2 rating bars it from increasing its 33 flights a week to the United States and US territories, and from changing the type or increasing the number of aircraft on those routes.

Chrisvenz

January 16th, 2008, 08:12 AM

:cheers:GOOD fOR CEBPAC!!!
sana ayusin nila ang service sa loob ng plane nila, para they will be recognize more than that Air Asia of Malaysia.:)

a s i a n a

January 16th, 2008, 11:52 AM

Shift expansion plans to ME countries, recruiter tells PAL
01/16/2008 | 02:26 PM

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines might as well resume flying to the Middle East after the United States Federal Aviation Administration’s downgraded the country’s rating on its compliance with aviation safety standards, a recruitment industry leader suggested on Wednesday.

The FAA has downgraded the Philippine's rating to Category 2 from Category 1, which means the country's civil aviation authorities (CAA) does not provide safety oversight of its air carriers in accordance with the minimum safety oversight standards of International Civil Aviation Organization.

PAL president Jaime Bautista had said the downgrading practically prevented the carrier from pursuing its expansion plans, including opening services to San Diego, Chicago, New York and Saipan.

Jackson Gan, vice president of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters, said resuming service routes to the Middle East, particularly in countries where there is large concentration of Filipino workers, would offset the potential losses from the US market.

PAL’s US operations accounts for 30 percent of its total revenue. It currently has 33 flights a week to Los Angeles (11 flights), San Francisco, (9) Las Vegas via Vancouver (5), Honolulu (3) and Guam, (5).

“PAL should consider this time that there is profitability in going back to the Middle East and Saudi Arabia where it used to fly directly from Manila," said Gan.

He noted that last year, about 20,000 Filipino workers were not able to return home because there were no available flights.

With more construction projects going on in Middle East countries, particularly in Qatar, Bahrain and Dubai, that would need thousands of Filipino laborers, the route stands a good chance of being profitable.

In recent years, he said the deployment of Filipinos to Dubai and Bahrain registered about 200 percent increase. With the construction boom predicted to last until 2012, the prospect of earning from direct flights between Manila and the Middle East countries looks bright.

“'They should shift these new planes to the Middle East now," Gan suggested to the flag carrier.
- GMANews.TV

_____

*Not a good idea*

a s i a n a

January 16th, 2008, 11:57 AM

Philippine Airlines looks at lower growth targets

FAA downgrade to affect expansion plans

By Rocel Felix
Thomson Financial

Posted date: January 16, 2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) may lower its growth targets for this year as a result of a recent decision by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to downgrade the country's air safety rating, which thwarts PAL's plans to expand its routes in the US.

"We are working on revising our projections this year because of the FAA decision," PAL president Jaime Bautista told Thomson Financial.

PAL is 84.7 percent owned by PAL Holdings Inc, which is controlled by tycoon Lucio Tan, whose assets also include banks, hotels, real estate, a cigarette company and a brewery.

The FAA reduced the Philippines' international air safety rating to Category 2 from Category 1 after inspections showed the government's Air Transportation Office (ATO) failed to meet international safety standards.

Last year, PAL increased its load factor by 77 percent and carried 7.4 million passengers, overshooting its target by more than 500,000 passengers. So far this year, PAL's load factor has risen to 80 percent, said Bautista.

PAL said previously that its US operations account for 30 percent of its revenue, and it projected that this would increase to 40 percent with its planned new services.

"That FAA downgrade, however, means our capacity to operate will be limited. Our existing US flights are not affected, but our planned flight expansions may need to be delayed. Even with new planes, we cannot fly these to the US."

The FAA decision prohibits PAL from increasing its flights to the US from 33 a week and from changing the type or increasing the number of aircraft used on these services.

Bautista said PAL is scheduled to take delivery of five Airbus 320 aircraft this year, while six new Boeing 777-300ERs are to be delivered between 2009 and 2011.

PAL is planning to use the smaller Airbus planes to increase its flight frequencies to US territories in the Pacific -- Guam, Palau and Saipan -- and use the wide-bodied Boeings to expand its routes to the US to include destinations such as Honolulu.

At present PAL flies direct to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The airline is planning to open new services to San Diego, Chicago and New York, where a large number of Filipinos live and work.

PAL has been urging the ATO to "rectify the assessed deficiencies in its air safety oversight functions so the country can revert to Category 1."

"Our expansion plans, if this matter is not resolved soonest, are being put in peril. The only option that we want is for the country to go back to Category 1. Boeing is even helping us with this, but hopefully, the government will do its homework," said Bautista.

STILL BULLISH

Despite the FAA restrictions, PAL remains bullish about its long-term prospects and sees the downgrade as a temporary setback.

"We are still taking delivery of the planes we have purchased. We are committed to buy these planes and we have contractual obligations to pay for these planes," said Bautista.

PAL will complete this year its purchase of a fleet of 21 A320s together costing $1.2 billion.

Bautista disclosed that PAL is considering leasing or buying outright another five A320s worth $300 million.

"We have sent proposals to financiers and are awaiting a response from them," he said.

The airline will complete its purchase of a fleet of six 777-300ERs together costing $1.5 billion in 2011.

While working with the ATO and the FAA on restoring the country's air safety rating to Category 1, PAL will continue to pursue increases in its flight entitlements.

"Currently we are either number one or number two in all of the markets where we operate. The travel market is growing and we intend to raise our frequencies not just in the US and in US territories, but in other profitable routes such as China and Japan," Bautista said.

Last year PAL secured regulatory approval to exit its landmark eight-year rehabilitation program, and it intends to be debt-free by 2012.

PAL, Asia's first airline, succumbed to mounting debts and was forced into receivership in 1998.

"Our outstanding debt has gone down considerably from $2.2 billion to just $800 million. We have secured all our creditors' approval for a restructuring of our loans and we are on track to complete payments by 2012," said Bautista.

Shares of PAL Holdings closed down 20 centavos or 3.5 percent at P5.60 today.

Chrisvenz

January 16th, 2008, 12:16 PM

tsktsktsk, ATO ayusin niyo namn trabo niyo!!!

brownman

January 16th, 2008, 01:05 PM

What a setback. :no:
It would've been a great boost to PAL's aspiration to regain its momentum of going back to old and canceled routes (ie Athens, Rome, London) and also to add up new routes (ie San Diego). I think ATO should move their arses and fix this... STAT.

chocolato1000

January 16th, 2008, 01:41 PM

Recruiters urge PAL to reopen Middle East routes

MANILA, Philippines -- Following the downgrading of the Philippines’ aviation safety ratings by the United States, a group of labor recruiters on Wednesday asked Philippine Airlines (PAL) to return to the Middle East and fly overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) going in and out of the region.

Jackson Gan, vice president of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters, urged the country’s flag carrier to return to Middle East routes that suffer from a shortage of flights.

During the Christmas holidays, more than 20,000 OFWs were reportedly unable to return to their jobsites in the Middle East immediately due to the shortage of flights. It is estimated that over 60,000 OFWs came home for Christmas.

Gan said PAL used to fly the Manila-Dubai-Europe route several years ago but abandoned this when flights to Europe became unprofitable. PAL also used to have direct flights to Saudi Arabia.

“But the situation in the Middle East now is totally different,” he said.

Gan said the deployment of OFWs to Dubai, Qatar, and Bahrain has increased by 200 percent over the past four years.

With the construction boom in Dubai and Qatar projected to continue for the next five years, and the plan of Saudi Arabia to build four super cities within a decade, he said more Filipinos will surely fly to the region.

In fact, he said, the demand for professionals and skilled workers in the Middle East brought about by the construction of hundreds of hotels and office buildings have put a strain on Philippine recruitment agencies.

Earlier, the United States government advised its citizens to avoid using carriers from countries it has rated Category 2, into which its Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) downgraded the Philippines.

The FAA prohibits carriers from Category 2 countries from expanding operations in the US.

n773ph

January 16th, 2008, 06:20 PM

Is this downgrade affects all airports in the Philippines? :down: I hope not !!!

i think it does because ATO regulates civil aviation in our country.

i was thinking maybe PR should reconsider reviving their codesharing agreement with American as a temporary measure. I remember back in the early 90's, they were supposed to codeshare with AA on routes from LAX and SFO to New York, Chicago, Washington,DC, DFW and Miami while AA was to codeshare all PR flights to Manila. I was reading the petition and arguments at the DOT website and boy the proposed agreement met a lot of resistance specially from UA and NW but still the agreement got the approval. With regards to the aircraft, with enough support and lobbying from the government and the Filipino-American community here in the US, maybe the FAA will allow PR to temporarily use the new 77Ws next year. this will allow PR to refurbish the 747's.

sonnyville

January 16th, 2008, 07:13 PM

mga tamad... balasubas... at sobrang corrupt kasi ang style ng ATO, ano ba yan?? the growth of our economy, nation, is now hindered by these restrictions imposed on us. masakit talaga to sa PAL. more than half of PAL's revenue are from the US flights, expect more carriers to leave or suspend flights to the RP?? expect airfares to go up??

kiretoce

January 17th, 2008, 01:54 AM

sonnyville

January 17th, 2008, 03:34 AM

do not forget hawaiian airlines... these two airlines, hawaiian and nwa , will begin picking up PAL passengers if we don't get out of category 2. PAL will get hurt hard on this. it's not just those carriers that will see this as an opportunity to take advantage of our situation, those other asian carriers such as JAL, Korean Air, Asiana etc. which many filipino's have often optioned to fly with other than PAL from the US will benefit from this.

tigidig14

January 17th, 2008, 03:38 AM

mga tamad... balasubas... at sobrang corrupt kasi ang style ng ATO, ano ba yan?? the growth of our economy, nation, is now hindered by these restrictions imposed on us. masakit talaga to sa PAL. more than half of PAL's revenue is from the US flights, expect more carriers to leave or suspend flights to the RP?? expect airfares to go up??

natawa ako sinisi yung mga karantaduhan at mga pagkakurakot nila sa hawaian airlines:lol:

kiretoce

January 17th, 2008, 03:43 AM

sonnyville

January 17th, 2008, 03:44 AM

natawa ako sinisi yung mga karantaduhan at mga pagkakurakot nila sa hawaian airlines:lol:

oo nga diba? narinig ko sa news kanina lang... interview sila ng media, puro ... injustice daw kasi hawaiian airlines will dominate our skies as the sole US carrier to be able to fly in the RP.... lol nakalimutan na nwa flies to the RP too! lahat kasalan daw ng hawaiian airlines. wow....ibang clase talaga!

tigidig14

January 17th, 2008, 03:52 AM

ito yung excuse nila, kailangan daw padaliin yung paglapag ng hawaiian airlines sa pnas, kung nde daw ma-i-i-stuck daw ang pnas sa catergory 2,
haaay kawawang airlines, nde pa lumalapag, pinupulitika na agad tsk tsk mga excuse talga satin para nde naman sila masisi naman Oo, walang patawad hahaah

sonnyville

January 17th, 2008, 03:55 AM

Technically, Hawaiian Airlines isn't a "mainland" carrier and not as extensive as Northwest Airlines, but it is a US carrier nonetheless. :okay:

i don't really know why they are dumping it all on hawaiian airlines. and yes, hawaiian isn't really as big as nwa. to think about it, nwa and klm ... same lang yan pala. they merged a while back diba? although nwa is mostly in part a US carrier.

jeez... no wonder lufthansa decided to leave.... they were exciting the politcal drama rama of the RP! gustong dominate and monopolize lahat...

Chrisvenz

January 17th, 2008, 03:57 AM

kiretoce

January 17th, 2008, 04:04 AM

i don't really know why they are dumping it all on hawaiian airlines. and yes, hawaiian isn't really as big as nwa. to think about it, nwa and klm ... same lang yan pala. they merged a while back diba? although nwa is mostly in part a US carrier.

jeez... no wonder lufthansa decided to leave.... they were exciting the politcal drama rama of the RP!

Northwest Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines are partners (the first ever airline aliance) and both were dominant in the trans-Pacific (NWA) and trans-Atlantic (KLM) routes. KLM then merged operations with Air France, and Northwest teamed up with Continental Airlines. All are now part of the Sky Team Alliance.

sonnyville

January 17th, 2008, 04:40 AM

Northwest Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines are partners (the first ever airline aliance) and both were dominant in the trans-Pacific (NWA) and trans-Atlantic (KLM) routes. KLM then merged operations with Air France, and Northwest teamed up with Continental Airlines. All are now part of the Sky Team Alliance.

oh ok... thanks for clearing it up.

ar-Jay

January 17th, 2008, 08:14 AM

Air Philippines seeks Q400s and 737 'Classics'

By Leithen Francis

Air Philippines plans to phase out its Boeing 737-200s and have its future fleet comprising Airbus A320s, newer 737 ‘Classics’ and Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s in addition to Q300s.

The carrier currently operates a fleet of eight 737-200s and one Q300 with two more on order. The second and third Q300 are to be delivered in March and April respectively, the airline’s president, Edilberto Medina, told ATI sister publication Flight International.

He says the carrier’s first 737-300 is due to be delivered on 16 January on lease from Air Philippines’ sister carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), which owns the aircraft.

This aircraft type used to be the mainstay of PAL’s short-haul fleet but now it uses A320s and only has two 737-300s left, one of which is leased while the one it owns was built in 1993, according to Flight’s ACAS database.

Medina says Air Philippines this year will begin grounding its eight 737-200s and he predicts that in 2010 it will only have two left and these will be grounded by the end of that year.

It is currently seeking to lease newer 737 Classics and prefers the 737-400 because of its additional capacity, says Medina, adding that it “may purchase the aircraft if the price is right”.

But he also says this is only an interim solution and that starting in 2009 it plans to start adding A320s which will be the mainstay of its future fleet.

PAL has options for five A320s with delivery slots starting in 2009 and Air Philippines hopes to get those aircraft, says Medina, adding that in 2009 PAL would have completed its A320 fleet renewal.

The 737 ‘Classics’ are still needed as interim solution because Air Philippines is no longer willing to wait and incur the high fuel costs that come from operating such old and inefficient aircraft, says Medina, adding that fuel now accounts for 50% of the carrier’s total expenses.

It also makes no sense for Air Philippines to spend money on a heavy maintenance check and lap joint airframe check for these aircraft because it would be too costly, he adds.

While the A320 seems destined to be the largest aircraft in Air Philippines’ fleet, the airline has become bullish about turboprops since its first Q300 went into scheduled operations on 15 December.

“We have had a good response from the Q300 and we never thought it would be a success so quickly,” says Medina.

The carrier is using its Q300 for a four-times-daily service from Manila to Caticlan, the gateway to the Philippines’ famous Boracay beach strip.

Medina says the carrier has until the end of this month to exercise the options it has for three Q300s but he is tight-lipped about the prospects of Air Philippines having a total of six Q300s.

But he says the carrier definitely plans to add Q400s and is now actively seeking leases on six and hopes to have the first arrive in April.

Medina says the airline chose to seek second-hand Q400s rather than new ones because if it ordered Q400s from Bombardier the first would only be delivered in the last quarter of 2009.

He says the Q300s will be used exclusively for services from Manila and Cebu to Caticlan but the Q400s will be used on other secondary domestic routes to cities such as Basco, Busuanga, Pagadian and Surigao.

The Q400s will be “focused on secondary route opportunities we can’t support with jet operations”, says Medina, adding that some will be routes PAL used to operate on before it grounded its Fokker 50 turboprops several years ago.

Air Philippines’ push into turboprops means it will be competing against Asian Spirit and Seair which operate older turboprops.

ar-Jay

January 17th, 2008, 08:20 AM

Cebu Pacific flies to Vietnam for as low as P499.

Cebu Pacific (CEB), the country’s leading domestic airline will start direct flights from Manila to both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh – Vietnam.

The services to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh are introduced with a special fare offering of P 499 one-way, a price cut of almost ¬¬¬80% from the current fares for this route. This introductory seat sale will run from January 18 to 24, 2008 and is good for travel from April 10 to June 30, 2008. The promo is non-refundable and is exclusive of surcharges and government tax.

The Manila-Hanoi service will start on April 10, 2008 and is offered three times weekly, (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays), aboard CEB’s A319 aircraft. The flight departs from Manila at 10:50pm and arrives at Noi Bai International Airport at 12:25am of the following day. The return flight leaves Hanoi at 1:10am and arrives in Manila at 4:45am.

Flights to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) will begin on April 11, 2008 and is scheduled every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Using CEB’s 150-seater A319 aircraft, the flight leaves Manila at 10:50pm and lands in the Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 12:15am of the following day. The flight to back Manila leaves at 1:00am and arrives at 4:25am.

Candice Iyog, CEB Vice President for Marketing and Product announced, “We are very excited to be flying to Vietnam because we know that this is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in Asia. With the launching of these new international destinations, we hope to further encourage trade and tourism between the Philippines and Vietnam. “

CEB is the only airline operating a direct service to Hanoi. After the seat sale, the lowest ‘Go’ fare to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh starts from P999 one-way, still more than 65% lower than the current fares for these routes.

For flight schedules and bookings, passengers can visit www.cebupacificair.com, or call its call center at (02) 70-20-888 or its ticketing offices and accredited travel agencies.

Now in its 12th year, CEB has the youngest fleet of aircraft in the Philippines. CEB flies to 12 international and soon to be 21 domestic destinations with the addition of Boracay (Caticlan) beginning February 29, 2008.

n773ph

January 17th, 2008, 09:11 AM

Just heard on the news this evening, Northwest Airlines and Delta Airlines are in merger talks. I wonder how this will affect flights to the Philippines since Northwest is the only US mainland carrier flying to Manila.
it depends on who will be the surviving entity. if delta is the surviving entity, this will be delta's first time to fly to manila. (pls. correct me if i'm wrong) nevertheless, the us east coast will be more accessible to manila.

i also saw on tv that DL is also planning to talk with UA. if that works, and UA is the surviving entity (which i think will considering that it is the largest between the two) that means UA's coming back to manila.

at any rate, this will only mean stiffer competition for PR especially now na dehado tayo dahil category 2 uli tayo.

it's funny to think that the Philippine government has been complaining that the current US-RP air transport agreement is unfair to Philippine carriers eh kagagawan din naman nila kung bakit category 2 tayo ngayon.:bash: eh kung inaayos ba nila trabaho nila eh di sana kahit papano patas ang laban especially now kasi PR's getting new aircrafts and expanding into the US. :ohno:

SugarFreak

January 17th, 2008, 09:20 AM

January 17, 2008
Opening of New Airport Excites Mayor Oti (http://www.negrosdaily.com/jan1708l1)
By Carla N. Cañet

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t226/cosmosnegros/fgfhfhg.jpg

Silay City Mayor Jose “Oti” Montelibano is excited with the start of operation at the Bacolod Silay Airport tomorrow, as this will bring tremendous economic gains to Silay City.

“I feel the same with a kid who is waiting so excitedly to receive a Christmas gift. I feel that way as the opening of the airport will become reality tomorrow,” he said.

There will be inauguration and commercial opening of the new Bacolod-Silay airport on January 18, 2008, 3:30 p.m. The new airport is a priority project of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

However, Vice President Noli de Castro will be the one to lead the official opening of the new airport.

He will also lead in the unveiling of the marker to be assisted by DOTC Sec. Leandro Mendoza, Minister Akira Sugiyama of the Embassy of Japan, Chief Rep. H. Togo of the Japan Bank of International Cooperation, Mayor Jose Montelibano, Gov. Joseph Marañon will send his representative, 3rd District Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson, Bacolod Cong. Monico Puentevella, Cong. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, 2nd District of Pampanga and Air Transportation Office Acting Sec. Dimagiba.

Rev. Fr. Abenir Pineda of the San Diego Parish, Silay City will give the invocation. The Silay City rondalla will play the Philippine National anthem.

Silay Mayor Montelibano will deliver the welcome remarks While Minister Sugiyama will deliver his message, same with Gov. Marañon through his representative.

Sec. Leandro Mendoza will introduce the Guest Speaker, Vice President De Castro.

Former DOTC Asec. Ricar-do Tan, now LTO-NCR Director and several others will take the first flight from Manila bound for Bacolod which will take its official landing at the new Bacolod-Silay airport.* (CNC)

red_jasper

January 17th, 2008, 09:25 AM

US citizens told to refrain from using local carriers when traveling to RP (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Local%20News&p=54&type=2&sec=2&aid=2008011713)

Thursday, January 17, 2008 02:54 PM

The United States government, through the US embassy in Manila, has asked its citizens to refrain from using Philippine air carriers when flying to the country, following the downgrading of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the countryâ€™s aviation safety.

â€œWhenever possible, Americans traveling to and from the Philippines should fly to their destinations on international carriers from countries whose civil aviation authorities meet international aviation safety standards for the oversight of their air carrier operations under the FAAâ€™s International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program,â€ the US embassy said in statement said.

The FAA recently downgraded the countryâ€™s aviation safety to category 2 due to serious concerns about the Philippine Air Transportation Office's oversight of air carrier operations. The government has already ordered a review of the safety measures. -- Alexa Villano

SugarFreak

January 17th, 2008, 09:36 AM

January 17, 2008
Facts About the New Bacolod-Silay Airport (http://www.negrosdaily.com/jan1708v4)

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t226/cosmosnegros/dsfsdf.jpg
(Photo courtesy by Carlo L.)
The New Bacolod-Silay Airport of International Standard sits on a 6-km. stretch in Brgy. Bagtic, Silay City, which is about 5kms. from the poblacion and about 20 kms. from Bacolod City. Its runway us 2-kms., more than twice longer that 900-m of the existing airport in Bacolod City. It has provisions for a 500-m extension which will accommodate bigger crafts serving international routes.

The airport has 15 check-in counters and three pre-departure areas that lead to three tubes. It has five toilets and a viewing space, open to the public on the third floor. It has a cargo terminal building and a fire-fighting station, located right next to the control tower, which has elevator services.

It was in May 2004 when joint venture between Takenaka Corporation (Head office: Osaka, President: Toichi Takenaka) and Itochu Corporation (Head office: Tokyo, President Eizo Kobayashi) was awarded to contract for the construction of the New Bacolod Airport Passenger Terminal and runway to be constructed in Silay City, Province of Negros Occidental (Negros Island) of the Philippines at open tender. Construction work on the project started in August. The contract is worth approximately 8.2 billion yen.

The owner of the new airport will be the Government of the Philippines, Department of Transportation and Communications - Air Transportation Office (DOTC). Designed and supervision was carried out by Pacific Consultants International (PCI). Detailed design of some of the air traffic control, lighting, meteorological and aviation fuel facilities was handled by the Takenaka-Itochu joint venture. The Philippine Government obtained a loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for the construction of the airport.*

tigidig14

January 17th, 2008, 09:45 AM

is that you w/tatoo, nice tatoo though. now im thinking of copying u hahaha

brownman

January 17th, 2008, 11:18 AM

b'z2;17759769"]US citizens told to refrain from using local carriers when traveling to RP (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Local%20News&p=54&type=2&sec=2&aid=2008011713)

Thursday, January 17, 2008 02:54 PM

The United States government, through the US embassy in Manila, has asked its citizens to refrain from using Philippine air carriers when flying to the country, following the downgrading of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the countryâ€™s aviation safety.

â€œWhenever possible, Americans traveling to and from the Philippines should fly to their destinations on international carriers from countries whose civil aviation authorities meet international aviation safety standards for the oversight of their air carrier operations under the FAAâ€™s International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program,â€ the US embassy said in statement said.

The FAA recently downgraded the countryâ€™s aviation safety to category 2 due to serious concerns about the Philippine Air Transportation Office's oversight of air carrier operations. The government has already ordered a review of the safety measures. -- Alexa Villano

Ouch! Now, that's just unfair. :bleep: :mad:

GearX

January 17th, 2008, 11:52 AM

ATO chief sacked after drop in RP aviation safety rank (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=105898)

Malacañang on Thursday sacked acting Air Transportation Office chief Danilo Dimagiba after the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded its rating on the Philippine aviation industry.

"The President has designated DOTC [Department of Transportation and Communications] Secretary Leandro Mendoza as concurrent Officer in Charge of ATO," Press Secretary and presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a text message.

The FAA downgraded its rating on Philippine aviation safety from Category 1 to Category 2, saying the country failed to comply with the the aviation standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Among the FAA's concerns were outdated aviation regulations, poor training programs for safety inspectors and sub-standard licensing for air frame and engine inspectors.

Bunye said Mrs. Arroyo immediately gave Mendoza a deadline to reverse the FAA downgrade.

"The President gave him a 3-month deadline to comply with FAA/ICAO requirements which are mostly administrative in nature. The issues involved here are merely technicalities and documentation and do not concern issues on safety," said Bunye.

The revision affects Philippine Airlines, the only Filipino airline that flies to the United States. Its routes account for 30 percent of operating revenues. PAL said the FAA downgrade meant it would not be allowed to fly to new US cities or change the type of aircraft used on existing US destinations.

The US embassy in Manila also warned American nationals in the Philippines to refrain from using Philippine-based carriers due to "serious concerns" about the ATO's alleged mishandling of the aviation industry.

"Whenever possible, Americans traveling to and from the Philippines should fly to their destinations on international carriers from countries whose civil aviation authorities meet international aviation safety standards for the oversight of their air carrier operations under the FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment program," a statement from the US embassy Web site (manila.usembassy.gov) said.

Dimagiba earlier blamed lack of funds for failing to implement stricter safety standards, maintenance and improvement programs. "Let the government approve the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines bill so that our airports and their navigational aids would be upgraded and we would be able to come up to the standards set by the FAA," said Dimagiba during an exclusive interview with BusinessMirror.

'We need P1B more'

The ATO has a yearly budget of P1.3 billion, spent mostly on salaries and maintenance and operating expenses. He said that if ATO is to upgrade with modern navigational aids and communications system, it would need an additional outlay of about P1 billion more.

As of now, he added that ATO has faulty navigational aids that need repair and passenger-terminal buildings have leaky toilets and dirty facilities.

Dimagiba said the ATO licensing section has not been modernized up to now and still issue licenses made of cardboard instead of plastic laminated ones, common in most branches of government. "We cannot afford to hire a librarian, who should take care of our extensive documentations."

The most glaring of all, Dimagiba pointed out, is the lack of qualified check pilots, who should be trained in simulators available only abroad. He added that it costs $20,000 per training session, an amount that is "beyond our meager budget."

The CAAP bill was passed by both Houses of Congress last December and now awaits the signature of President Arroyo. He said the prospective law’s "most outstanding feature is that it would have fiscal autonomy and be able to dispense most of its P3-billion income for local aviation modernization."

Inocencio Incierto, chief of Air Navigational Services, said new navaids would cost about P120 million, a communications system about P150 million, and the upgrading of the Area Control System, which is the outlet for the Tagaytay radar, needs another P150 million.

The Philippines is not alone in Category 2, being joined by 19 other countries. The first batch of this category, including the Philippines, are those operating in the US at the time of the assessment: Bangladesh, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Guyana, Indonesia, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro, the former Yugoslavia and Nauru.

chocolato1000

January 17th, 2008, 02:10 PM

Transport chief given 3 months to resolve FAA issues

Thomson Financial
First Posted 19:48:00 01/17/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Arroyo on Thursday named Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza as concurrent Air Transportation Office (ATO) chief and gave him a "three-month deadline to take care or to address the administrative and technical issues" raised by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye told reporters the president's actions should "remedy whatever technical deficiencies there are."

The FAA has downgraded the Philippines' rating to Category 2 from Category 1, saying the country's ATO failed to meet international safety standards.

Following the downgrade, Philippine Airlines, the country's flag carrier, said Wednesday it may lower its 2008 growth targets, effectively putting its expansion plans on hold. This is because the FAA decision prohibits PAL from increasing its flights to the US and from changing the type or number of aircraft used on these services.

"Our expansion plans, if this matter is not resolved soonest, are being put in peril. The only option that we want is for the country to go back to Category 1.

Boeing is even helping us with this, but hopefully the government will do its homework," said PAL president Jaime Bautista.

Bautista told Thomson Financial the airline will still take delivery of the planes it has purchased.

"We are committed to buy these planes and we have contractual obligations to pay for these planes."

PAL is to take delivery of five Airbus A320s this year, while six new Boeing 777-300ERs are to come in between 2009 and 2011. It is also considering leasing or buying outright another five A320s worth $300 million, Bautista said.

PAL is 84.7 percent owned by PAL Holdings Inc.

chocolato1000

January 17th, 2008, 02:17 PM

Cebu Pacific to launch flights to Vietnam in April

MANILA, Philippines -- Budget airline Cebu Pacific said Thursday it will start flying to Vietnam on April 10.

Cebu Pacific will offer the Manila-Hanoi service with three flights every week, said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing.

Cebu Pacific will also offer three flights a week for the Manila-Ho Chi Minh route starting April 11, she said.

The airline currently flies to 12 international destinations and competes with flag carrier Philippine Airlines in the domestic market.

Cebu Air Inc., operator of Cebu Pacific, is scheduled to list on the Philippine Stock Exchange on February 8 following an initial public offering later this month.

Cebu Air, owned by conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc., will sell up to 135.5 million shares or about a third of its total equity to the public at an indicative price of not more than P95.00 per share. The offer consists of new shares and secondary shares.

At a maximum price of P95.00 per share, Cebu Air expects to raise P6.6 billion from the IPO, which will be used to fund its refleeting program, replenish its working capital, as well as serve its other general corporate purposes.

The selling shareholders are expected to raise P5.8 billion.

Cebu Air has a market capitalization of P39.8 billion.

($1 = P40.97)

ngprofflorida

January 17th, 2008, 02:31 PM

Goodbye Old Bacolod Airport

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2335/2199570008_562cb5d7b2.jpg?v=0

Hello NBSA

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2408/2198776389_98bdcffc4d.jpg?v=0

The last day of old Bacolod airport

http://www.bacolod-silayairport.com/

QUOTE=SUV111;17763690]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2370/2198777217_3694f59be6.jpg?v=0
now its time to bid goodbye, theres no turning back

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2193/2199569092_ecb186ea9d.jpg?v=0
final approach for take off

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2362/2198777417_fb180d5140.jpg?v=0
goodbye old bacolod airport

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2190/2199569190_6e6918f7e8.jpg?v=0
byebye!!!![/QUOTE]

bustero

January 17th, 2008, 04:36 PM

I hope GMA shows a little grit and fire Mendoza if after 3 months he is still unable to lift the FAA downgrade ,hehe.

chocolato1000

January 17th, 2008, 04:49 PM

Cebu Pacific cancels flight to Bangkok

MANILA, Philippines -- Just as it was about to launch flights to Vietnam, local carrier Cebu Pacific Air canceled a Bangkok-bound flight on Wednesday night after it was denied transit through Vietnamese air space, stranding close to 200 passengers.

Some missed connecting flights, while many became upset as they waited on board their Thailand-bound plane for two hours only to learn they would not take off, a passenger told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Thursday.

“We sat on the plane for two hours with no explanation why.... Because of the lack of information, it scared a lot of people on the plane.... There were so many angry people,” said Stuart Garland, a Welshman and frequent tourist to the Philippines.

“We were just told that the plane was not allowed to pass through Vietnam air space,” said Garland, a vacationing trade. “I asked a flight attendant if there was a problem with the aircraft and he just said there was a technical problem.”

Cebu Pacific Flight 5J-931, booked with 179 passengers, was supposed to depart around 9:50 p.m. on Wednesday.

It was canceled just before it was to line up for takeoff at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The airline confirmed the cancellation but was vague about why, offering no explanation for Vietnam’s decision to bar the plane transit through its air space despite several inquiries.

“We cancelled our Manila-Bangkok flight last night because we did not have clearance to fly over one of the states on the route to Bangkok. We deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused by this incident to our guests,” Candice Alabanza-Iyog, airline marketing director, said in a statement.

Iyog said a number of the 179 passengers were immediately billeted for the night at the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City while those who “urgently needed” to be in Bangkok were transferred to other airlines.

“They were quite accommodating at the hotel, they gave us breakfast and lunch,” said Garland.

While it was unclear why Vietnam denied the airline transit, Cebu Pacific announced Thursday it would start flying to the Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in April.

kiretoce

January 17th, 2008, 04:58 PM

Hmm....I would think that if you're granted flight rights to fly to a certain destination, you're given clearance through the air spaces of nations en route.

kiretoce

January 17th, 2008, 07:49 PM

Clipped wings (http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/editorial/view/20080117-113128/Clipped-wings)

The decision of the US Federal Aviation Administration to downgrade Philippine airline operations does not hurt Philippine Airlines (PAL) alone, although the expansion program of the first flag carrier has now been put on hold. It disadvantages the country as a whole.

Why does it matter that another country’s aviation authority finds ours inadequate? Because millions of Filipinos work and reside in the United States, because the United States accounts for about a third of the revenues of a major company like PAL, because other countries inevitably follow US aviation standards. Not least, because at a time of greater globalization and continuing terrorism the country cannot afford to have its transportation infrastructure ridiculed throughout the world.

The news about the downgrade broke only this week, but Philippine transportation officials already knew about the calamitous decision last month. Indeed, given the nature of these reviews, which rely on the cooperation of and the grant of access by host governments, officials of the Air Transportation Office (ATO) or the Department of Transportation and Communications must have known about the adverse finding well in advance.

Sen. Joker Arroyo puts the blame squarely on the two agencies: “Neither the Department of Transportation and Communications nor the ATO told the Senate anything about the impending downgrade, which they already knew during the budget hearings in October. What they did is that just before the Christmas recess, they stampeded Congress to pass the Civil Aviation Authority Act lest, according to them, we be downgraded. Congress acted on it with practically no debate. Still, the FAA downgraded us.”

It was, typically, a case of too little, too late. As Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile noted, in a press statement released by his office yesterday, the “International Aviation Safety Assessment [was] conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration on July 23 to 27 last year.” In other words, officials should have seen it coming.

But the thrust of Enrile’s statement was to shift the burden of responsibility to the House of Representatives. “Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Services, clarified that the Senate has approved on third reading House Bill No. 3156, or the Civil Aviation Authority Act of 2008, before Congress adjourned for Christmas break last year. But the bicameral conference committee could not be convened yet, Enrile said, because the House of Representatives had yet to constitute the members of its panel.”

That may well be, but in the light of the nature of the FAA’s “serious concerns,” that is almost beside the point. The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), which oversees the ATO, has already decided to paint Congress as the scapegoat. Retired police general Thomas Lantion, speaking for the DOTC, told reporters that Congress must first pass a bill creating a Civil Aviation Authority -- as though this would solve all the ATO’s problems.

In its Jan. 8 report, the FAA identified specific areas of concern, including outdated aviation regulations, poor training programs for safety inspectors and sub-standard licensing for air frame and engine inspectors. The government can raise the standards in these specific areas and comply with international aviation safety regulations even without a CAA. Granted, the new agency will make the upgrading process more efficient, but does that mean the ATO and the DOTC will simply wait for Congress to act before acting themselves?

What the CAA will do is allow the government to allocate more funds for air safety, the purchase of new equipment or the training of more personnel. But as Arroyo asked pointedly, why didn’t the ATO simply ask for more money?

“What the ATO asked for in the 2007 and 2008 budgets Malacañang gave, the House gave, and the Senate gave in full. In short, what ATO asked for, they got,” Arroyo said. “Precisely, the FAA is complaining that we do not have the facilities to maintain international safety standards. And what did ATO ask for -- P21 million, or $572,000, only. In 2007, ATO asked for only P7.37 million, or $180,000.”

The flyboys at the ATO and the scandal-stricken officials of the DOTC have some explaining to do.

kiretoce

January 17th, 2008, 07:54 PM

Philippine Airlines set to lower targets after FAA downgrade (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jxp7nMSSNBCmgmNzSeXvz_MItF0Q)

http://afp.google.com/media/ALeqM5gBft3vmwJ5wz33l6ZBNLuXdDTCsw?size=m

MANILA (AFP) — Philippine Airlines may lower its 2008 growth targets, a report said Thursday, after US authorities downgraded Manila's air safety rating, effectively putting the carrier's expansion plans on hold.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has reduced the Philippines' rating to Category 2 from Category 1, saying the Air Transportation Office (ATO) here failed to meet international safety standards.

"We are working on revising our projections this year because of the FAA decision," PAL president Jaime Bautista told Thomson Financial in an interview Thursday.

Last year as it emerged from eight years of receivership, PAL increased its load factor by 77 percent and carried 7.4 million passengers, more than half a million above target.

PAL's load factor is up to 80 percent this year, said Bautista.

Its US operations, it is the only Filipino airline that flies to the United States, account for 30 percent of revenue and it has projected that this would increase to 40 percent with planned new services.

"That FAA downgrade, however, means our capacity to operate will be limited. Our existing US flights are not affected, but our planned flight expansions may need to be delayed. Even with new planes, we cannot fly these to the US."

The FAA decision prohibits PAL from increasing its flights to the US from 33 a week and from changing the type or number of aircraft used on these services.

Bautista said PAL is to take delivery of five Airbus 320 aircraft this year, while six new Boeing 777-300ERs are to come in between 2009 and 2011.

PAL plans to use the smaller Airbus 320s to boost flight frequencies to US territories in the Pacific and use the wide-bodied Boeings to expand its US continental routes as well as Hawaii.

PAL now flies direct to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

It plans to fly to San Diego, Chicago and New York, homes to large expatriate Filipino communities.

PAL has been urging the ATO to "rectify the assessed deficiencies in its air safety oversight functions so the country can revert to Category 1," Bautista said.

"Our expansion plans, if this matter is not resolved soonest, are being put in peril," he said.

"Boeing is even helping us with this, but hopefully, the government will do its homework."

PAL sees the FAA downgrade as a temporary setback.

"We are still taking delivery of the planes we have purchased. We are committed to buy these planes and we have contractual obligations to pay for these planes," said Bautista.

PAL will complete this year its purchase of a fleet of 21 A320s together costing 1.2 billion dollars.

Bautista disclosed that PAL is considering leasing or buying outright another five A320s worth 300 million dollars.

"We have sent proposals to financiers and are awaiting a response from them," he said.

kiretoce

January 17th, 2008, 07:57 PM

Measure to elevate aviation safety proposed (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/man/2008/01/18/news/measure.to.elevate.aviation.safety.proposed.html)

The Senate has fully done its part in coming out with a proposed law seeking to elevate the level of safety of its air carrier operators in accordance with the standards set by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, chairman of the Senate committee on public services, clarified that the Senate has approved on third reading House Bill (HB) 3156, or the Civil Aviation Authority Act of 2008, before Congress adjourned for Christmas break last year.

But the bicameral conference committee could not convene yet, Enrile said, because the House of Representatives had yet to constitute the members of the its panel.

Because of this, Congress will have to wait until it resumes its session on January 28 before the bicameral committee can be convened, he added.

HB 3156, as approved by the Senate on third reading, amends the charter of the Air Transportation Office (ATO) to enable the agency to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) standards, following the International Aviation Safety Assessment conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration on July 23 to 27 last year, and the subsequent downgrading of our own civil aviation system to Category 2 last week, which simply means that we do not comply with the standards set by the ICAO.

The FAA included in a January 8 report the Philippines in a list of 21 countries that failed to "provide safety oversight of its air carrier operators in accordance with the minimum safety oversight standards established by the Icao." In its new Flight Standards Service-International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA), the FAA downgraded the country's rating from Category 1 to Category 2.

Country that fall under Category 1 are those which comply with the Icao aviation safety standards, while those that fall under Category 2 do not, the FAA said on its website.

Enrile said the Icao standards being referred to, which the ATO was said to have not complied with, referred to areas involving the Specific Operating Regulations, Technical Guidance, competence of technical personnel; Licensing and Certification; continued Surveillance Obligations; and Resolution of Safety Issues.

What was emphasized was that the ATO was unable to sustain the minimum safety standards of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (commonly known as Chicago Convention) and the Annexes thereto.

As a signatory of the Convention, Enrile said the Philippines is required, among other obligations, to establish a civil aviation authority that employs qualified technical personnel that are necessary to perform aviation safety oversight functions on air carriers. Moreover, the RP-US Air Transport Agreement requires compliance with the standards prescribed under the Chicago Convention as a condition of foreign air carrier operations in the US.

The difficulty that goes with being downgraded to Category 2 is that "while in Category 2 status, carriers from these countries will be permitted to continue operations at current levels, under heightened FAA surveillance.

Expansion or changes in services to the US by such carriers are not permitted while in Category 2, although new services will be permitted if operated using aircraft wet-leased from a duly authorized and properly supervised US carrier or a foreign air carrier from a Category 1 country that is authorized to serve the United States using its own aircraft."

Enrile said HB 3156 further amends Republic Act (RA) 776 insofar as the provisions on the functions of the ATO are concerned. It seeks to reorganize the ATO into the new Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), which will be responsible for policy coordination only, particularly on the provision of safe and efficient management of all services permitting aviation access to and from the Philippines.

The CAAP, while still attached to the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), shall work hand in hand with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). The CAAP, on the other hand, will oversee the technical and safety aspect of civil aviation, particularly in areas involving personnel licensing; aircraft airworthiness and registration; aerodome construction and development; air traffic service; air navigation service; and aircraft accident investigation.

On the other hand, the CAB shall take charge of the economic aspects of the industry, specifically on the following matters: setting of air fare rates and charges; establishing destinations and routes; determining flight frequencies; and issuance of Certificate of Public Conveyance and Necessity.

For its part, Enrile said the Senate committee on Public Services introduced a new provision, which specifically provides that "nothing in this Act shall diminish the functions and powers of the Civil Aeronautics Board." Nor does the bill envision a scenario where the CAAP will impede or interfere with the functions and operations of the existing airport authorities such as the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, and the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport Authority.

He added that many of the provisions of the bill under consideration were culled from the patterned after the CAAP to conform to international standards.

Meanwhile, MIAA general manager Alfonso Cusi assured the public that flight operations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) is continuing.

"The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) is compliant with the standards prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao). There is no cause for alarm because the Naia remains capable to service local and international carriers," Cusi stressed.

Cusi also advised air travelers, especially tourists, to continue with their travel plans to the Philippines as Naia remains business as usual.

Like all other international airports worldwide, Naia undergoes periodic assessment by the Icao and the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

"We would like to take the opportunity to state that we have generally passed again, the most recent security assessment made by the TSA. With the help of the DOTC-Office for Transportation Security (OTS), we do our own periodic re-assessment and re-evaluation of our procedures and processes to make sure we do not deviate from internationally accepted standards," Cusi explained.

He said Naia as airport terminal was not downgraded. "What was re-categorized was the rating of the country's international civil aviation safety standards which falls under the responsibility of the Air Transportation Office (ATO)," he said.

absinthe_888

January 17th, 2008, 08:43 PM

yan din naisip ko...maybe there was a technical problem with the plane or something...

anyway, updates on what's happening with CEB..

Cebu Pacific to fly to Vietnam
By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes
Friday, January 18, 2008

http://philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=200801175

Gokongwei-owned Cebu Pacific (CEB) will start direct flights from Manila to both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh – Vietnam.

The services are introduced with a special fare offering of P499 one-way, almost an 80 percent price cut from the current fares for this route. This introductory seat sale will run from Jan. 18 to 24, 2008 and is good for travel from April 10 to June 30, 2008. The promo is non-refundable and is exclusive of surcharges and government tax.

“We are very excited to fly to Vietnam because we know that this is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in Asia. With the launching of these new international routes, we hope to further encourage trade and tourism between the Philippines and Vietnam,” CEB vice president for marketing and product Candice Iyog said.

The Manila-Hanoi service will start on April 10, 2008 and is offered on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, aboard CEB’s 150-seater A319 aircraft.

The flight departs from Manila at 10:50 pm and arrives at Noi Bai International Airport at 12:25 am the following day. The return flight leaves Hanoi at 1:10 am and arrives in Manila at 4:45 am.

CEB is the only airline operating a direct service to Hanoi.

Flights to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) will begin on April 11, 2008 and is scheduled every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Using CEB’s A319 aircraft, the flight leaves Manila at 10:50 p.m. and lands in the Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 12:15 a.m. the following day. The flight to Manila leaves at 1 a.m. and arrives at 4:25 a.m.

pi_malejana

January 17th, 2008, 09:43 PM

just look at 'em.. sunod sunod na ang proposals and actions, basta napunta sa spotlight yung balita..:ohno: sunod sunod din ang sisihan..:ohno:

mwg12a

January 17th, 2008, 09:47 PM

@Kiretoce. I wonder how much longer it will take if they just flew around the indonesian border instead of being over vietnamese airspace. That could of save 5j in expenses but still managed to get their passengers to their destination. Is that possible? Anybody can answer this.

gen1

January 18th, 2008, 12:51 AM

the food daw is great at saigon.

any recommendations from people out there who've been to saigon ?

if the fare is cheap enough, might make an overnighter just to pig out on cheap french food :lol:

ericlucky290

January 18th, 2008, 05:26 AM

What US air inspectors found unsafe (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080118-113175/What-US-air-inspectors-found-unsafe)

By Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:09:00 01/18/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- US aviation authorities found even the tiniest safety requirements lacking in the Philippines’ civil aviation system, from pencil marks on airmen licensure tests to poor record-keeping.

This led to the decision of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to flunk the Philippines in its safety audit.

Details of the FAA evaluation of the country’s adherence to international safety standards revealed flaws big and small in the operation and administration of the Air Transportation Office, according to records of a meeting between FAA and ATO officials, where the US aviation watchdog agency presented its safety audit findings.

A copy of the minutes of the Nov. 29, 2007, meeting was shown to the Philippine Daily Inquirer by an aviation official.

The ATO is the government agency in charge of ensuring that only airworthy planes and qualified pilots are allowed to take to the skies.

The FAA informed the Philippine government it had “serious concerns” about its oversight of air operations, which the US side says do not comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) safety standards.

The decision downgrades the Philippine civil aviation safety rating to Category 2, putting it alongside countries such as Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia.

Minimum safety requirements

It means Philippine carriers can continue flying to the United States but only “under heightened FAA surveillance.”

Only one carrier, Philippine Airlines, flies to the US.

According to records of the November meeting, the American inspectors found flawed pilot licensing and airworthiness certification procedures, lack of personnel training, un-updated manuals for airworthiness, aircraft and pilot inspection -- and even an absence of librarians to keep master copies of these guidebooks.

These are minimum safety requirements the Philippines has to comply with as a party to the Chicago Convention, a 1944 document that lays down the provisions and safety requirements of US civil aviation, including the operation of international carriers in American states and territories.

The FAA findings were silent on the quality of Philippine airports, a subject under a separate safety and security audit.

No librarians

FAA inspectors found that the ATO’s airworthiness inspectors handbook “has no master copy” and “has not been updated since 2002.”

They also noted that there was “no library or librarian responsible for maintaining a master manual and keeping the instructor handbook current.”

The ATO’s flight operations inspectors handbook was also found to be lacking updates on international regulations.

The document was signed by David Hanley, manager of the FAA’s Flight Safety Standards, and then ATO officer in charge Daniel Dimagiba, who was also then chief of the ATO safety division.

Questionable pencil marks

Malacañang Thursday announced that Dimagiba had been sacked as OIC of the ATO.

The FAA also found that there was “no regulatory guidance” for airmen-licensing examinations and that there was “inadequate control of [written examination] materials.”

The US inspectors even noted questionable pencil marks on test sheets.

They also said there was “no documented training program or OJT (on-the-job) program for airworthiness inspectors” and that the current staff had not been retrained.

Disorganized file

Pilot inspectors were found to have missed aircraft or simulator training, as required by the ICAO.

Aircraft safety certification files “[do] not contain evidence” that they have provisions for emergency situations. The FAA found such files hard to retrieve as the documents “lack organization,” according to records of the meeting.

The FAA also noted that the ATO inspectors had “no procedures for and documentation of inspections,” and that they had limited access to airports for surveillance and investigation of its own personnel.

Dimagiba said the FAA had offered its consultancy to help the ATO comply with ICAO requirements.

Help offered

The ATO has yet to reply to the offer, but five ICAO experts are already working with ATO officials to help the Philippines meet international aviation safety standards.

“Maybe within the year, we can already have the downgrade lifted,” Dimagiba had told the Inquirer on Wednesday.

He said the Icao experts, all under contract with the ATO for a year, had been helping local aviation officials revise ATO inspection manuals and retrain personnel. With a report from Associated Press

kiretoce

January 18th, 2008, 05:34 AM

^^ They (aviation authorities in the Philippines) have no one else to blame but themselves for this. :ohno:

ar-Jay

January 18th, 2008, 06:33 AM

Question lang..

What B737 does PAL own? RP-C4011 or RP-C4007?

ar-Jay

January 18th, 2008, 06:36 AM

Question lang..

What B737 does PAL own? RP-C4011 or RP-C4007?

ivanc

January 18th, 2008, 06:47 AM

the government should improve and develop further existing airports especially the big 3, naia, mactan and clark before they build more airports... just my opinion.
all we hear are news of "proposal to expand/improve"...

GearX

January 18th, 2008, 09:27 AM

Air Philippines to Phase out Boeing 737-200s (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business5_jan18_2008)

Air Philippines plans to phase out its Boeing 737-200s and have its future fleet to consist of Airbus A320s, newer 737 “Classics” and Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s in addition to Q300s, the airline’s president, Edilberto Medina, was quoted by Flight International magazine as saying.

The carrier currently operates a fleet of eight 737-200s and one Q300 with two more on orders. The second and third Q300 third are to be delivered in March and April respectively.

Air Philippines’ first 737-300 was delivered on Wednesday on lease from sister Philippine Airlines, which owns the aircraft.

Chrisvenz

January 18th, 2008, 01:25 PM

The government should concentrate on this problem about the downgrade of ATO and to the Philippine Aviation. Focus on the problem first before your selfs. Its an international problem, its an embarrassment for our country...

kiretoce

January 18th, 2008, 06:25 PM

Too few working too many hours to direct Manila air traffic (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080118-113369/Too-few-working-too-many-hours-to-direct-Manila-air-traffic)

MANILA, Philippines -- When they saw how Manila's air traffic came and went last year, American aviation inspectors were awestruck at how Filipino air traffic controllers (ATCs) did so much with so little.

One only has to look inside the Air Transportation Office's Manila Control Tower to see why the Philippines failed to measure up to international aviation safety standards.

With too few people working too long hours, the ATCs -- men and women who direct pilots for landing and takeoff -- are forced to push the boundaries of safety daily, banking on their skills to make sure every plane and passenger leave and land in Manila just fine.

“We take risks and operate below the safety margin, but we take those mitigated risks instead of letting traffic accumulate in the air,” said Nickson Morada, chair of the Philippine Air Traffic Controllers Association (Patca).

“We are working under conditions with unreliable equipment, personnel shortage and very low morale,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

Adding to the ATCs’ woes is that they have not received their overtime pay for a year, Morada said.

ATO Executive Director Daniel Dimagiba admitted the lack of ATCs, and said 70 new recruits might soon be deployed in control towers around the country.

As for the delay of the ATCs’ overtime pay, Dimagiba said the budget had not been disbursed by the transportation department, to which the ATO remits all its earnings.

Morada said many ATCs had left the service for better-paying jobs abroad. He cited one senior ATC who landed a job as a United Nations staffer, earning enough dollars to take frequent vacations in the Philippines.

“When you hear something like that, you can't help but be tempted to think about doing the same. Our concern now is many senior ATCs are leaving ... Who will be left to train the new ones?”

Working below the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao), ATCs carry on the risky business of clearing landings and takeoffs at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) daily despite extended shifts and delayed overtime pay.

The Philippines' failure to comply with ICAO safety standards has prompted the US Federal Aviation Administration to downgrade the country's aviation safety rating to Category 2 from Category 1, or below global safety minimums.

“When it's already your tenth or eleventh hour on duty, sometimes there are tiny memory lapses," said another ATC, who asked for anonymity for lack of authority to speak on the matter.

"We commit mistakes in instructing pilots because you are already tired. But we are able to correct that immediately because we are already used to it and we do our best despite the mental stress.”

At any given shift, the Manila Tower is manned below ICAO standards. Given Manila's air traffic of around 600 flights (departures and arrivals) per day, the ICAO recommends six to seven ATCs per shift.

But available manpower permits only five to be at the tower during the eight-hour shifts, Morada said.

“Like in the day shift, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., we need seven people, but only five are available. So two people have to take an overtime. For the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift, the Icao says we should have six but we only require 5. Past midnight there are only four, when there should be six,” Morada said.

To avoid stressing ATCs beyond their limits, the Manila Tower allows controllers to rest after every two hours of work and then shifts them around.

The undermanned ATC team has to grapple with the task of safely directing 40 departures and arrivals (combined) per hour, a flight frequency that forces the controllers to shorten the buffer time necessary to keep airplanes a safe distance from each other while landing or taking off.

Morada said only 30 planes at most should land or take off the airport within an hour as aircraft have to be at least two minutes apart for safe landing and taxiing, and for proper takeoff.

Given the volume, however, the ATCs must finish dealing with an aircraft within a minute and a half.

“The flight codes and their schedules might be the same, but air traffic is always different every day, and it's mentally draining,” said a controller.

“During peak seasons, you could be dealing with 90 aircraft in an hour. Imagine, you are talking non-stop during your shift. Your jaws are already tired but you cannot stop giving instructions,” he added.

ATCs are often forced to serve second shifts in a day to help co-workers cope with the air traffic, but they have not received their overtime pay for a year, Morada said.

Ordered by Malacañang Thursday to take over the ATO, Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza said he had invited ICAO consultants to be part of a team that would steer the ATO back into compliance with international oversight standards.

"We have started calling for inputs from aviation stakeholders, such as local airlines and tourism agencies, so that ATO can recover its Category 1 rating," Mendoza said.

Senate President Manny Villar cautioned the government against jacking up airport fees to address the ATO’s shortcomings.

He said the ATO, with a projected income of P3.1 billion and a spending budget of P1.6 billion this year, “has enough internally generated funds" to correct safety deficiencies.

Senator Mar Roxas, who wants to summon Dimagiba to a Senate hearing on the issue, said: “Sacking the ATO OIC is a start, but it is not enough ...We need to know how long this has been a problem, and why the government had failed to prevent this downgrade.”

kiretoce

January 18th, 2008, 06:26 PM

Aviation upgrade to cost P1.6 Billion (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=politics1_jan19_2008)

Aviation authorities can upgrade facilities and ensure the industry’s compliance to international safety standards without having to impose additional taxes or fees on airlines.

Senate President Manuel Villar said the aviation office has been making money and its proposed successor is assured of P1.6 billion in programmed funds.

Villar said that Congress has approved the bill creating the Civil Aviation Authority, which will replace the Air Transportation Office. The bill allows the CAA to keep and spend its own income for its operations, instead of remitting this to the National Treasury.

“There are internally generated funds to bankroll any program that would allow the country to recoup its Category One rating from the [United States] Federal Aviation Administration,” Villar said.

“Clearly, ATO is not a losing entity that needs to be subsidized. It can fend for itself if only it is allowed to retain some of its income or if appropriations are near the level of its revenues.”

Apart from the P3.1-billion income from fees and charges, Villar said the new aviation body has P1.6 billion that is programmed to be spent for “air transportation” in the P22.3-billion budget of the Department of Transportation and Communications this year.

Meanwhile, Senators Loren Legarda and Mar Roxas said the dismissal of acting ATO chief Danilo Dimagiba signaled the start of the efforts to reverse the US FAA’s downgrade of the Philippine aviation industry.

“It’s not enough that heads rolled in the aftermath of the downgrade. The more important concern is what will be done by the government and industry players,” Legarda said.

She noted that Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza who was designated acting ATO chief in concurrent capacity, was given three months to take corrective measures leading to the upgrading of RP’s air safety rating.

Roxas said Dimagiba will be called to the Senate inquiry into the circumstances that led to the FAA downgrade.

In fact, we need Danilo Dimagiba to tell us what went wrong, what he did and could not do, and how decisions were made or indefinitely postponed. His dismissal from the service should have a result of a clear and transparent post-mortem process that would result in lessons learned and a time-bound roadmap to obtain and FAA upgrade,” he said.

He also welcomed the statement of Mendoza that his office will cooperate with the Senate inquiry.

Meanwhile, Isabela Rep. Rodito Albano III said the downgrading by US FAA of the country’s aviation security system is a “set-up.”

Albano assailed the US government for interfering in local affairs and urged the Arroyo administration to abrogate the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement, and forge closer alliance with China.

For his part, Makati City Rep. Teodoro Locsin said the FAA findings were deliberately made and announced in the media because the US government wants one of its airline companies to engage business in the country.

He said this could also be the reason why the US Embassy immediately discouraged their citizens to fly local airline companies like Philippine Airlines which has a direct flight to the US mainland.

House sources said Hawaiian Airlines wanted to operate direct flights from Hawaii to Manila and vice versa.

The same sources said the Hawaiian Airlines has hired the services of a law firm headed by a brother of a government official.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara and Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros said the FAA findings is a “wake up call” for civil aviation authorities to modernize their system but questioned the timing of the FAA’s announcement. “It is a wake up call for us,” Angara said.

“We have to self-assess and probably upgrade our civil aviation system, but the timing is curious,” Hontiveros said.

kiretoce

January 18th, 2008, 06:31 PM

PGMA earmarks P600 million for Southern Luzon International Airport Phase II (http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&r=&y=&mo=&fi=p080118.htm&no=55)

Legazpi City, Albay -- The construction of the Southern Luzon International Airport (SLIA) in Albay will be a dream come true after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directed the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to earmark in the 2008 General Appropriations a P600 million fund for phase two of the project.

This was learned from Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda, the current chairman of the Regional Development Council (RDC) in Bicol, who said construction of the P3.4 billion SLIA in Barangay Alobo, in Daraga town will initially take off this year following the release of P600 million in the 2008 GAA, under the National Economic Projects (NEP) of the President.

Salceda said the funding to be included in the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) budget this year, will form part of the second phase of the initial stage of the airport project.

The funding which is the second tranche of the P3.4 billion project cost, further seals the status of Daraga town as the site of the international airport in Bicol, Salceda said.

He said this airport has been identified as one of the super regions impact projects that could be completed before President Arroyo's term ends in 2010.

Salceda said last year the DBM released some P250 million fund for phase one of the project which involved the preparation of the project feasibility study and land acquisition of close to 250 hectares of land in Barangay Alobo.

He said the P600 million funding would be used for the procurement of needed materials set in the middle of this year while construction would be in full steam before the year ends.

In the next RDC meeting set on February 8, the DOTC and the Air Transportation Office (ATO) would be asked to report on the status of the airport development, Salceda said.

aseantraveler

January 18th, 2008, 06:36 PM

Filipino low-cost carrier to launch direct flights to Vietnam
17:16' 18/01/2008 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Philippines’ low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific announced yesterday it will officially open new air routes from Manila to Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City from April this year.

Philippine TV channel GMA reported the airline will provide the new services - licensed by the Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam (CAAV) early this month - with a special price of 499 pesos (US$12) per single ticket.

It is scheduled to operate three Manila-Ha Noi flights a week starting April 10, and four flights from Manila to Ho Chi Minh City per week from April 11.

Cebu Pacific is interested in opening air routes to Viet Nam because this is among the fastest growing nations in Asia, said Candice Iyog, the airline’s Deputy Marketing Director.

Cebu Pacific hopes to promote trade and tourism between the two countries, she added.

With its new flights, Cebu Pacific is to become the second airlines to connect Viet Nam and the Philippines after the Philippines Airlines.

Of the 44 international airlines in operation in Viet Nam, Tiger Airways (Singapore), AirAsia (Malaysia), Jestar Airways (Australia) and Viva Macau (Macau) are budget carriers.

In other news, Indonesian Lion Air has recently received a license from CAAV to re-open flights between Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City which were closed three years ago.

(Source: SGGP, VTC, TBKTVN)

jcb

January 18th, 2008, 08:47 PM

Wow magawan ng solution ang mga problemang yan at maging lesson na rin sa mga officail natin.

Regarding sa mga international Airport i think okey lang naman sya Bakit?

una

1.some new and proposed airport will be built to closed down or replace the old one.
2.to decongest the NAIA
3.To ease na rin yung mga hirap ng mga OFW pag-umuwi na para hindi kailanga pang dumaan pa ng manila or yung iba take a domestic flight pauwi sa probinsya para hindi na rin hussle sa kanila.
4.For tourism also para sa mga tourista

pangalawa

hindi lang naman puro airport but also mga seaport diba marami ding U/C and proposed to build

Railways naman if im not mistaken may mga plano rin ang gov't dyan and they plane to build more LRT/MRT system sa mga metropolis like in manila and cebu and expand the Northrail up to La-Union and southrail down to matnog sorsogon even in Visayas and Mindanao.

Expressway i think U/C naman ang expanssion ng mga ito?D B?both the NLEX na may plano up to La-Union and also the SLEX.

i think hindi lang sa airport building nag-fofocus ang gov't

opinion ko lang naman =)

a s i a n a

January 19th, 2008, 01:28 AM

SugarFreak

January 19th, 2008, 07:35 AM

January 19, 2008
Negros now open to world, endless opportunities: Noli (http://www.visayandailystar.com/2008/January/19/topstory1.htm)
BY CARLA GOMEZ

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t226/cosmosnegros/nbsarainbow2.jpg
(A rainbow rose over the New Bacolod-Silay Airport yesterday morning as if ushering the dawning of a beautiful day for Negros Occidental.)

SILAY CITY – The P5.6 billion New Bacolod Silay Airport that has opened up Negros Island to the rest of the world will bring in endless growth opportunities for Negros Island , Vice President Noli de Castro said yesterday.

De Castro led the inauguration of the new alternate international airport here yesterday afternoon also attended by Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza, and Japanese and Negrense officials.

The 72-year-old Bacolod airport was closed down Thursday evening after the last flight out.

“The endless opportunities that this new and modern airport could bring to Silay City and to Negros Island does not mean that Silay's gain is Bacolod 's lost,” de Castro said.

The world class airport will allow both cities to move on, he said, because “now Bacolod can concentrate on its competitive edge in commerce, business and the service sector.”

“Being a highly urbanized city Bacolod has a great potential to develop central business districts and commercial mix-use areas,” he said.

The site of the Bacolod City airport given its location and developments in its immediate surroundings can be transformed into a business district, the vice president said.

This is the same tack Iloilo City took when its old airport was closed down to give way to a new one in Cabatuan town, he pointed out.

Megaworld has purchased the old Iloilo airport site for development into residential and commercial areas, he said.

“When one door closes another opens, but only if one uses this saying in a practical and prudent way,” de Castro said.

The new airport in Silay City will bring economic development not only to Negros Island but the rest of Central Visayas , he said.

NEW ROAD

De Castro said work on the extension of the new airport runway by 500 meters to accommodate larger aircraft from the United States and Europe will begin in the second quarter of this year.

In fact with its current 2,000 meter runway it can already accommodate a 300-seater Airbus A-330, Mendoza said.

Aircraft of that size from around the world can already land at the Silay airport now, Mendoza said.

De Castro said Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, has also informed him that work on a 10-kilometer road that will connect the Bacolod circumferential road to the new airport will begin this year.

This will reduce travel time from Bacolod to the new airport to 15 minutes, de Castro said.

‘GIVE CHANGE A CHANCE'

Acting Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco appealed to all to give the new airport the full support that it needs so that it can operate at its maximum potential.

The operations of the new airport will directly benefit Negros Occidental as it would encourage more tourists and investors to the province, he said.

Zayco said he echoes the appeal of the airport officials to give change a chance. “This is a change, no doubt for the better,” he said.

A NEW ‘TOWN'

Silay Mayor Jose Montelibano said with the new airport the world finally comes to within reach of Negros .

It will also change the landscape of the vicinity around the airport from sugar farms to industrial economic zones. We will see technology-based industries that will create jobs for thousands of Negrenses, he said.

A new town or center of business and development for Silay City will be built around the new airport since the old historical structures in the city proper cannot be demolished, Montelibano said.

Congressmen present at the inauguration rites were Nergos Occidental Representatives Julio Ledesma IV (1 st District), Alfredo Marañon III (2 nd District) Jose Carlos Lacson (3 rd District), and Jeffrey Ferrer (4 th District), Puentevella ( Bacolod ) and Mikey Arroyo (Pampanga, 2 nd District).

BEST LIVELIHOOD

The new airport is the best livelihood project for the third district and the province of Negros Occdental , Lacson said.

Puentevella, Marañon III and Ferrer also all said the new airport would be a boost the economic growth of Negros Occidental.

Sugar Regulatory Administrator Rafael Coscolluela, former Negros Occidental governor, said “After all the sentimentalism is done and finished I hope people will realize that a new airport of international standards will ultimately be beneficial to Negros Occidental, Bacolod City and Western Visayas .”

Coscolluela said he understands some people feel it is inconvenient to have to go all the way to Silay to get to the airport but many of us who travel to Manila are used to going to the airport there three hours ahead of our flights.

“It is a matter making adjustments, let's think about the long term. This will be beneficial to all of us in the long term, this opens up the door for international flights, which would never ever have happened if we retained the Bacolod airport only,” he said.

The new airport was built on a loan by the Philippine government from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation that was represented yesterday by Hiroshio Togo . Also present was Minister Eiichi Oshima of the Embassy of Japan.

Oshima said with the new airport in Silay, gives Negros Occidental a new basis for future growth.

He pointed out that Negros Occidental is the fifth biggest domestic airport in terms of passengers in the Philippines , which have increased by 50 percent in the last 10 years.

The province needed a bigger and more efficient airport to meet its growing demand, and the new one in Silay will boost economic activity and quality of life for Negrenses, Oshima said.

Meanwhile, an SM City Bacolod airport shuttle located at its south transport terminal departs for the new airport at 4 a.m., 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. with a fee of P100 per passenger.*CPG

brownman

January 19th, 2008, 11:35 AM

I can't blame FAA. And, FAA did the best. If not because of the downgrade, issues like this would be ignored.

True. It goes to show how one-dimensional our government's perspective is on holistic developments. One of the few good things about the downgrading is to wake up all those sleepyheads up there.

swahi

January 19th, 2008, 07:32 PM

Question lang..

What B737 does PAL own? RP-C4011 or RP-C4007?

Both B737 planes using those numbers were scheduled for phase out last october 2007

Source: http://www.tripatlas.com/Philippine_Airlines

sonnyville

January 19th, 2008, 09:50 PM

Just wondering, if PAL ever joined an airline alliance, it maybe beneficial to PAL? If PAL were to join an airline(s) alliance, which would it be? Which alliance would be most practical, I noticed kasi that many Asian carriers such as Thai Airways, JAL, KE, are all members of airline alliances, and why not PAL?? Wouldn't it benefit PAL to join such an alliance? One World, Skyteam, Star Alliance? Besides codesharing agreements with other airlines.

n773ph

January 19th, 2008, 11:21 PM

This is interesting. Read this one from PAL's petition/application to fly to SAN via YVR. According to the 1995 US-Philippine air transportation agreement, the Philippines can fly to 4 additional gateways in the US besides Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu. The government selected Las Vegas, Dallas, Chicago and New York. However, it has designated San Diego in place of Dallas as an additional point in the US. Now that's a sad news for Pinoys in Dallas. To read the complete text click on the following link:
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=090000648039892a&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf

diz

January 20th, 2008, 03:53 AM

that's dumb. San Diego is only a few miles from L.A.

Dallas could have been a good tourism source.

kiretoce

January 20th, 2008, 05:25 AM

Just wondering, if PAL ever joined an airline alliance, it maybe beneficial to PAL?

Yes, it will benefit PR since alliances basically act as feeders to each alliance member. Passengers also have the benefit of a seamless travel from point to point without the hassles of having to deal with so many different carriers en route to their destination.

If PAL were to join an airline(s) alliance, which would it be?

OneWorld would be the best fit, since PR already has interline agreements with AA, CX, and QF.

Which alliance would be most practical, I noticed kasi that many Asian carriers such as Thai Airways, JAL, KE, are all members of airline alliances, and why not PAL?

Although PR hasn't made a move to join an alliance yet, it still has to strengthen it's financial standing and to upgrade it's fleet and services for it to be invited to join an alliance.

Wouldn't it benefit PAL to join such an alliance? One World, Skyteam, Star Alliance? Besides codesharing agreements with other airlines.

In this day and age wherein an airline can't fly to most destinations around the world because it's cost prohibitive, an alliance takes care of that. So even though PR doesn't fly to Europe, if it joined an alliance, say OneWorld, it can rake in the profits by selling seats on carriers such as BA or CX to passengers originating in MNL (or from anywhere in the Philippines).

kiretoce

January 20th, 2008, 05:28 AM

^^ Dallas....tourism? :hilarious

mwg12a

January 20th, 2008, 06:18 AM

^^^ cows and horses would be making sidetrip to the Philippines during winter time for more greener and chewier grass and hay for feed...LOL kidding

diz

January 20th, 2008, 06:23 AM

^^ Dallas....tourism? :hilarious

eh you'll never know! haha. they have a huge airport. not that i've been there.

everything's bigger in texas right? bigger opportunities, bigger tourism chances, bigger people... etc!

kiretoce

January 20th, 2008, 06:26 AM

^^ I've been to the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport. It's fugly! But then again, they were doing some constructions and renovations, so that might have been a bad first impression. We'll see after it's all completed, I might change my mind then. :colgate:

mwg12a

January 20th, 2008, 06:35 AM

People from texas go down to Mexico if they feel like they want to get that trophical feel or atmosphere. Places like Cancun and several others are world renown beach resorts and then you'll have the bahamas, Virgin Island and Jamaica that is close by so. The Philippines would really have to compete harder to give more "come on" to the prospective tourist/travelers. The biggest drawback would be the distance, it takes atleast 23 stinking hours to go to the Philippines while Cancun takes one hour and a half from Dallas. Bahamas around approximately 2 1/2 hours only. The fact that Texas has coastline such as in Houston and Corpus Cristi with a more temperate climate comparing to up north would turn people from Dallas off to travel to the Philippines unless you're Filipino American. Florida is also another good place to go even during winter time. So, it would be a very slim chance that people from Dallas would take that long trip just to see what they can see and experience in Mexico and the Bahamas.
^^ I've been to the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport. It's fugly! But then again, they were doing some constructions and renovations, so that might have been a bad first impression. We'll see after it's all completed, I might change my mind then. :colgate:

You probably have been in the smaller airport in Dallas, there are also two International airports in Dallas just like in Orlando.

kiretoce

January 20th, 2008, 06:46 AM

^^ I did mention Dallas-Fort Worth (the bigger one), not Dallas-Love Field. ;)

mwg12a

January 20th, 2008, 06:53 AM

Oh yeah, I forgot. Lovefield is the smaller one. Maybe you were right, there was a construction going on at that time you were there because when I was, it really looked nice and HUGE!!!

sonnyville

January 20th, 2008, 07:13 AM

Yes, it will benefit PR since alliances basically act as feeders to each alliance member. Passengers also have the benefit of a seamless travel from point to point without the hassles of having to deal with so many different carriers en route to their destination.

My thoughts exactly, which is why I brought up the question. Plus the travel mileage for those who actually do collect. ;)

OneWorld would be the best fit, since PR already has interline agreements with AA, CX, and QF.

I couldn't agree more. I was thinking OneWorld or Skyteam, but OneWorld is the most excellent and wise choice. It would ally itself with existing carriers that service the RP, such as JAL and CX, and it can bring in BA, Iberia, Finnair, and AA in to our country

Although PR hasn't made a move to join an alliance yet, it still has to strengthen it's financial standing and to upgrade it's fleet and services for it to be invited to join an alliance.

I was thinking that one of the many reasons why there aren't so many carriers flying in to the RP, is because PAL hasn't allied itself with an airline alliance, thus no hub status in MNL, well aside from our lacking airports, our national carrier recovering from bankruptcy, failing ATO, and among other things. These are the many reasons why other airlines will steer clear from MNL, no alliance with the local carrier means very little money to gain, especially with fuel being costly. It can all change if PAL joins an alliance. PAL's services can be enhanced and they can learn to be more efficient from these carriers.

In this day and age wherein an airline can't fly to most destinations around the world because it's cost prohibitive, an alliance takes care of that. So even though PR doesn't fly to Europe, if it joined an alliance, say OneWorld, it can rake in the profits by selling seats on carriers such as BA or CX to passengers originating in MNL (or from anywhere in the Philippines).

I hope PAL will one day be invited to such an alliance. When Clark , Sangley, or where ever it is they plan to build this grand airport, I hope that they do turn it in to a considerably great hub for PAL and many other carriers, can rival that of Hong Kong Int. Airport, Changi, Bangkok Savarnabhumi etc.

tigidig14

January 20th, 2008, 07:23 AM

kiretoce

January 20th, 2008, 07:29 AM

^^ :lol: You go boyee!

sonnyville

January 20th, 2008, 07:40 AM

I cannot see why PAL shouldn't fly to DFW. It is a very large hub, many of the necessary stop overs, connecting flights, etc. from the East Coast to the West Coast and vice-versa take place in DFW, it would give PAL a little window in to the US domestic market (airlines), especially when PAL has made existing agreements with AA. They can always expand those agreements with AA. DFW is an American Airlines hub (800 daily departures), and also the largest hub for American Eagle, their lowcost carrier counter part. Eighty four percent of all flights at Dallas/Fort Worth are operated by American Airlines. DFW is the third busiest airport in the world. In terms of passenger traffic, it is the sixth busiest airport in the world transporting 60,079,107 passengers in 2006 (Wikipedia). It is the second largest airport in the US, it is the tenth busiest international gateway in the United States, behind Honolulu International Airport. (Wikipedia). Also, besides the growing Filipino community in Texas. Many of our fellow countrymen, mainly nurses and medical graduates are being contracted to work in hospitals in the state of Texas because it is extremely in demand. It attracts many because of low housing costs, can get a brand new house in Texas right away if your a nurse, less than 2 years minimum. From my wife's personal experience since she's a nurse. ;P The only trade off is, you might get contracted to rural places... like Brownsville near US/Mexico border in the middle of nowhere, and it's extremely hot in Texas or really cold in the winter. Texas is big!!!

mwg12a

January 20th, 2008, 07:49 AM

^^^^It would benefit me personally if I wanted to go to the Philippines. We have a direct flight here to Dallas and if PAL has a direct flight there, it will be more of a convinience to me because it cuts down layovers/stopovers into just one instead of two or three, just the case with NWA, I would fly directly to either, Chicago, Detroit or Minneapolis-StPaul, from there, either Tokyo or Osaka then onto Manila, it's really a pain in the neck to sit around in an airport for 3 to 4 hours waiting for your next plane ride, not to mention walking through and around all these huge and long concourses and walkways in all those above mentioned airports drains the little energy left on you.

n773ph

January 20th, 2008, 08:08 AM

a s i a n a

January 20th, 2008, 08:29 AM

Is Houston-Intercontinental not that good as a hub?

kiretoce

January 20th, 2008, 09:17 AM

^^ Houston's George H.W. Bush-Intercontinental Airport (IAH) is a hub for Continental Airlines (CO).

mwg12a

January 20th, 2008, 10:04 AM

well, i think San Diego has a much bigger Fil-Am community than Dallas. And I think I read sometime ago that the Fil-Am community petitioned Philippine Airlines to fly to San Diego. They must have convinced chief Bautista et. al and then in turn PR lobbied the government to drop Dallas in favor of San Diego. At any rate, PAL's expansion won't materialize unless the dingdongs at ATO fix the problem and get us back to FAA category 1 status.

I forgot about the fact that PAL would go through YVR before San Diego, it's possible that they would also do that on dallas route. PAL wouldn't be beneficial for me then, unless they started with B777ER and non-stop flight to Dallas.

tigidig14

January 20th, 2008, 10:18 AM

Is Houston-Intercontinental not that good as a hub?

ive had my connection there once and seriously the design reminded me of interior facade of naia 3

sonnyville

January 20th, 2008, 10:23 AM

Actually Houston was a better choice for PAL compared to Dallas, if they had decided between the two cities. Mas malaki pa ang Filipino community doon sa Houston than Dallas I think, and of course much larger than San Diego. Houston is a very big city, the 6th largest city in the US, very diverse, and big Asian community. If PAL wanted, or thought about targeting not just the large Filipino communities in Houston, they could also incorparate the large Vietnamese community there. Not just Vietnamese of course, there's also a growing Indian community, Cambodian, etc. Meron naman flights from Manila to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon).
Houston is underserviced by Asian carriers, only SQ, China Airlines, and KE (pending) are the only ones that operate out of Houston. Also, what happened to PAL's restoration of flights in to India? They could also exploit the growing large Indian community, Air India will soon start flying to Houston, if not already.

mwg12a

January 20th, 2008, 10:33 AM

I kind of heard from an american friend who is married to a filipina that there are alot of Vietnamese going through PAL to go to Vietnam, they transit through Manila , is there any truth to this? He said he always see alot of them in his flight like last december when he went to Cebu to be with his wife and kids. I asked him if he was sure they are vietnamese, he said he was positive, they told him. Tatagalogin ko na lang kasi baka maoffend ang makabasa nito, sabi niya, malayo pa lang alam na niya na hindi pinoy kasi karamihan daw amoy kambing...LOL hindi ko gawa-gawaan to ha??LOL

kiretoce

January 20th, 2008, 11:11 AM

mwg12a

January 20th, 2008, 11:15 AM

awwww, that is not good, PR should start to offer something different that's still very competitive and attractive to that market.

diz

January 20th, 2008, 11:16 AM

^^ :yes: Yes, it's true. A number of Vietnamese nationals/descent here in the US use PR enroute to SGN via MNL. But now UA also serves that route via HKG from its west coast hubs at LAX and SFO, don't know if PR is holding strong against the competition that UA poses though.

the solution for that is a better airport. how can we compete with HKG.

chocolato1000

January 20th, 2008, 02:50 PM

China Southern Airlines starts flight to Clark

CLARK FREEPORT, Philippines--China Southern Airlines began chartered flights to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here last Friday, through the Jimei Group that operates the 282-hectare Fontana Leisure Park in this freeport.

The Guangzhou-Clark flights are scheduled for Fridays and Sundays, said Norman Ng, managing director of the Jimei Group in the Philippines.

The chartered flights would run for an initial six months using CSA's 166-seat Boeing 737 jets, according to Victor Jose Luciano, president and chief executive officer of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), the government agency overseeing the development of the DMIA.

Luciano welcomed the entry of CSA, saying the flights "open potentials of having Chinese tourists and businessmen coming to our region to invest."

"We are happy about the development that Fontana has taken this initiative, we will give them full support," he added.

The CIAC, he said, would help the CSA in its plan to mount regular flights to Clark.

Luciano said the 2,500-hectare DMIA receives an average of 54 international and domestic flights a week. Last year, a total of 533,619 passengers arrived through the DMIA, higher by almost 45,000 than 2006 figures.

Asian routes are served by Asiana Airlines of South Korea, Air Asia and Tiger Airways of Singapore. Domestic flights are available through Cebu Pacific, South East Asian Airlines (Seair) and Asian Spirit.

Shanghai Airlines also offered chartered flights from January to May last year while Deer Air made a chartered flight in December.

a s i a n a

January 20th, 2008, 02:59 PM

Raven83

January 20th, 2008, 03:04 PM

^^ :yes: Yes, it's true. A number of Vietnamese nationals/descent here in the US use PR enroute to SGN via MNL. But now UA also serves that route via HKG from its west coast hubs at LAX and SFO, don't know if PR is holding strong against the competition that UA poses though.
I think so because the last time I went to HKG, the other gate who was serving the SGN route was full of pax and the plane that was used was an A340 not the usual A320. I think this route will be upgraded to an A330.

odyssey

January 20th, 2008, 07:28 PM

Air Philippines to acquire six new aircraft for $120M
By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes
Monday, January 21, 2008

Budget domestic carrier Air Philippines plans to acquire six new aircraft totaling at least $120 million during the fourth quarter of 2008 as part of its modernization and expansion program.

It was learned that the company, owned by taipan Lucio Tan who also controls Philippine Airlines (PAL), will be purchasing initially six Q400s, which are 76-seater planes and sister ship to the Q300s currently being used by Air Philippines.

The acquisition will be financed either through operating lease, finance lease, or export credit, officials revealed.

During the January to December 2007 period, Air Philippines carried a total of one million domestic passengers as compared to PAL’s four million passengers from the latter’s domestic operations alone.

Air Philippines has started flying to Caticlan last Dec. 15 and there are plans to increase the number of flights from four to 12 flights a day utilizing three aircrafts.

The company has just acquired six Bombardier Q300 turbo-prop aircraft amounting to $56 million to serve its expanded route network, including its new Caticlan service, gateway to the island of Boracay.

Air Philippines middle of last year signed a firm order with Toronto-based Bombardier Aerospace for three of the 50-seat airliners and taken options on three more units.

The first Q300, delivered in November 2007, started the Manila-Caticlan run of the airline, which is known for its tourist-friendly ultra-low fares.

Deliveries of the other two firm orders will be in the first quarter of 2008, while the option aircraft, should Air Philippines exercise its rights, are due after 2008.

Air Philippines currently operates eight Boeing 737-200 jet aircraft serving a network of 12 points in the Philippines from hubs in Manila and Cebu. It also operates regular charter flights to points in Korea.

It will be phasing out its Boeing 737-200s and have its future fleet comprising Airbus A320s, newer 737 ‘Classics’ and Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s in addition to Q300s.

The carrier currently operates a fleet of eight 737-200s and one Q300 with two more on order.

Company president Edilberto Medina earlier said the carrier’s first 737-300 is due to be delivered on this month on lease from Air Philippines’ sister carrier PAL, which owns the aircraft.

Medina said Air Philippines this year will begin grounding its eight 737-200s and he predicts that in 2010 it will only have two left and these will be grounded by the end of that year.

Click to continue article:
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=200801209

odyssey

January 20th, 2008, 07:37 PM

Zesto is really expanding on Aviation. “Zest Airline” would be a good name to boot.

Zest-O maker buys stake in second airline
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/jan/21/yehey/business/20080121bus13.html

THE owner of Zest-O and RC-Cola has acquired domestic passenger airline Asian Spirit, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The source said Alfredo M. Yao has signed the purchase agreement with Asian Spirit last week, translating to his full ownership of the airline. He also owns thrift bank Philippine Business Bank and sits as director of Export and Industry Bank.

The acquisition of Asian Spirit would be Yao’s second venture into the transportation and aviation industry. In November, Yao confirmed his acquisition of a majority stake in chartered airline operator Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAIR) as the carrier beefs up its capital to fuel its expansion.

SEAIR plans to expand both its domestic and Asian routes. It is looking at regional destinations such as Korea, Singapore, Macau and Bangkok. The plan involves leasing two brand-new 180-seater Airbus 320 aircraft from Singapore-based budget carrier Tiger Airways.
-- Katrina Mennen A. Valdez

brownman

January 20th, 2008, 08:22 PM

How about Chicago? Does the city have a large Filipino community compared to Houston or Dallas?

kiretoce

January 20th, 2008, 08:31 PM

absinthe_888

January 20th, 2008, 09:36 PM

http://philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=2008012025

US advisory on PAL is unfair
DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco
Monday, January 21, 2008

The US FAA has all the right to downgrade the Philippines for our government’s inability to properly regulate the local aviation sector. In fact, the downgrading is even welcome in the sense that it woke up our normally useless bureaucracy from its characteristic stupor. But that advisory for US citizens to avoid Philippine carriers like PAL for safety reasons is unfair and even illogical. I think it was more a protectionist move inspired by commercial interests rather than passenger safety.

The incompetence of Philippine bureaucrats aside, the safety record of PAL is comparable, if not better than those of many American carriers. I have taken PAL flights across the Pacific many times and I am confident that PAL is uncompromising about safety even if it means grounding a flight. My only complaint on PAL flights is the food. Then again, when I board those trans-Pacific flights, I’d rather sleep than eat.

But for safety, it is comforting to know that the maintenance of PAL planes is entrusted to Lufthansa Tecknik Philippines (LTP), a world class service organization that is certified and used even by the US FAA. Lufthansa maintains PAL’s fleet of Boeing and Airbus aircraft in accordance with a maintenance program as approved by the US FAA and even the French DGAC.

LTP is a member of Germany’s Lufthansa Technik Group, the world leader in the maintenance, repair and overhaul of commercial aircraft, engines and components. LTP provides maintenance services to more than 25 international carriers including Aircalin, Air Mauritius, Air Tahiti Nui, Asiana, Austrian Airlines, British Midland, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, Eva Air, Gulf Air, Jet Airways, Lufthansa German Airlines, MyTravel Airways, Qantas Airways, Starflyer, Thomas Cook Airlines UK and Virgin Atlantic Airways, among others.

As a world-class provider of aircraft maintenance services, LTP is certified to maintain US-registered airplanes by the US FAA, EU-registered airplanes by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EAviation authorities of countries where the PAL aircraft are registered including the US-FAA and French DGAC. PAL’s fleet has consistently passed the annual inspections of these regulatory bodies.

PAL has also passed the audit conducted by the IATA (International Air Transport Association) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) conducted last May 2006. The IOSA Certificate of Registration was awarded by IATA to PAL on Feb. 7, 2007. Representatives from the US FAA witnessed the IOSA certificate awarding. PAL is the only Philippine-registered company to join the ranks of global airlines listed in the IOSA registry. IOSA is the global standard for airlines and represents the core of IATA’s efforts to raise the bar of excellence on aviation safety.

The worse part of the US FAA downgrade is the rule that prohibits PAL from deploying its newly ordered Boeing 777-300 ER when they start rolling off the Boeing factory in Seattle, Washington. It makes no sense whatsoever. Those are brand new planes from an American manufacturing plant and those American bureaucrats would prevent those planes from being used supposedly because of a safety concern. That’s totally absurd. I guess it is normal for bureaucracies anywhere to make such stupid rules.

The US government can go ahead and call our civil air transport officials incompetent or worse and be right about it. But imposing limitations on PAL for safety concerns make no sense at all. Given the large amounts of money invested in airline operations, it is to the interest of PAL to uphold the highest safety standards. Besides, the financing and leasing companies of PAL would require only internationally certified maintenance and pilots for those planes. That ill-advised advisory for American travelers to avoid Philippine carriers is unadulterated commercial protectionism.

The ATO mess

Some ATO officials have some nerve to wash their hands of this embarrassment and say it is not their fault. Of course it is their fault. The fact that legislation is needed is only part of the problem. The bigger problem is bureaucratic mismanagement. It will probably still be there after the law is passed and the initials of the agency are changed to CAAP.

But what can one expect from an agency that is the dumping ground of retired military misfits? The ATO was headed during the period under FAA review by someone Malacañang had to suspend or fire because of unliquidated cash advances in the millions. Can’t expect good governance there!

The FAA ‘s concerns include outdated aviation regulations, poor training programs for safety inspectors, and sub-standard licensing for airframe and engine inspectors among others. According to media reports, the American inspectors found flawed pilot licensing and airworthiness certification procedures, lack of personnel training, un-updated manuals for airworthiness, aircraft and pilot inspection. FAA inspectors found that the ATO’s airworthiness inspectors handbook “has no master copy” and “has not been updated since 2002.”

They also noted that there was “no library or librarian responsible for maintaining a master manual and keeping the instructor handbook current.” The ATO’s flight operations inspectors handbook was also found to be lacking updates on international regulations. The FAA findings were silent on the quality of Philippine airports, a subject under a separate safety and security audit. That should produce another embarrassing bombshell.

It is clear that while some of the deficiencies require money to correct, others merely involve simple housekeeping. And even if ATO officials claim they don’t have enough funds to run a world class operation, the records show they never asked Congress to provide those funds. As Sen. Joker Arroyo pointed out, everything the ATO asked, Congress appropriated.

Lacking a sense of urgency is the other important failure. They knew they were being audited by the FAA and they have been warned of the downgrade but they did not publicly raise the alarm. In this case even Ate Glue has failed. Negros Rep. Monico Puentabella told the Manila Standard Today “he only learned of the FAA concerns when the President told him about them in November 2007.” So, it was not new to her too but they all did nothing hoping the problem will go away.

Ate Glue did right in appointing the DOTC Secretary as concurrent ATO Chief with an order to solve the problem in three months. The buck now stops with someone visible who must be held clearly accountable. This time he cannot escape command responsibility. That appointment and order should have been given in November when Ate Glue learned about the problem. Hopefully, they will not pass the blame to Congress for future failures. In fairness, Congress acted speedily after the situation was explained to them.

Sacking that acting ATO Chief who had been in office less than a month made a good headline but that’s all there is to it. This is plainly a failure of leadership… a failure of management… a failure in governance. So, what else is new?

sonnyville

January 20th, 2008, 09:52 PM

^^ :yes: Yes, larger than Dallas or Houston.

My opinion, PR should serve Washington, DC. It would only make sense to serve the national capital of the United States of America. Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD) in Virginia is capable of handling larger aircrafts compared to Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in downtown DC. Or they can opt to serve the DC area via Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) in Baltimore, only an hour's drive away.

Amen to that kiretoce!! Tiga Bethesda ako, right outside DC, and there is a big community of Filipinos here in DC, northern Virginia area, and Delaware, places which are relatively close to each other. When we moved here, I thought I wouldn't find any Jolly Bee or Pinoy markets, big surprise when the DC area has a growing little Pinoy town. Basta within the radius of DC lots of pinoys, sana PAL flies here. I posted a comment about this before, ang mahal kasi talaga when you fly other carriers like KE, NWA, AA. The only choices I have are AA, IAD to Narita, stop over in either LAX or DFW, then from Narita to MNL, it will be a flight with JALways on the NRT-MNL sector, as AA and JAL codeshare. There's KE, which I really love taking, direct flight to Seoul and from there transit to MNL, which is great-one stop over lang, but airfare with KE is sometimes really expensive. I'm going home to the RP this Feb, and my Y ticket in KE is almost $1900.00. Eh kung minsan syempre gusto ko rin ma feel ang business class kaya. :) Still waiting for that day when my company stops being chipipay and sending us on Y tickets to business trips. Defeats the purpose of "business class" if you ask me. ;P NWA is no better than AA, multiple stop overs, St. Paul or SFO and connections before even setting foot in Japan. Reagan is largely "point-to-point" domestic transition airport these days, with some international flights, mostly trans-Atlantic. IAD has more international flights than Reagan. I love taking the shuttle buses on IAD that ferry you from the main terminal, from one concourse/terminal to the next. :) PAL should really consider IAD.

kiretoce

January 20th, 2008, 10:04 PM

^^ Really? I was just up there this past Thanksgiving, I have relatives and friends in Rockville and Laurel. I always use IAD because it's more convenient for them to pick me up at the airport, not much traffic and the distance traveled and time spent on the road is considerably less compared to DCA or BWI. Yeah PR should really consider mounting flights to the DC metro area and surrounding communities. The Pinoy community there is large and widespread. But we'll see, it is in PR's interest right now to serve the burgeoning and well established Pinoy communities on the west coast (mainly California).

benchjade

January 20th, 2008, 11:27 PM

may route na pala ang PAL from MNL-San Diego, MNL-Chicago

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspubli...ontentType=pdf

lightning099

January 21st, 2008, 03:12 AM

INSIDE CEBU By Bobit S. Avila
Monday, January 21, 2008
www.philstar.com

There’s been a lot of discussion about the recent downgrading from Category 1 to Category 2 by the US Federal Aviation Administration of Philippine airports, all centered on the fact that this could affect the tremendous strides we have made in the past two years, especially in the tourism industry. But the biggest howl is coming from Philippine Airlines (PAL), which stands to lose passenger traffic if the situation is not remedied pronto.

True to form, the Philippine government is taking the usual knee-jerk reaction to this mess pointing fingers at the Air Transportation Office (ATO) which is under the wing of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC). Already, ATO officer-in-charge Daniel Dimaguiba became the instant fall guy, as if this mess could be blamed directly on him. In truth, there’s more to this problem of downgrading of Philippine aviation than just the usual government inefficiency or bureaucracy.

I have long known the top officials of the ATO up to its last head, my good friend Nilo Jatico (whose resignation was accepted six months ago), and have learned enough about their never-ending problems. The truth of the matter is, like all problems (like what is happening with education) that face our present centralized form of government, the budget of the ATO is too small, and it cannot hope to afford the recent upgrades that international aviation requires today and it needs a lot of funding these days.

For instance, ATO’s capability to check our pilots is hampered by the lack of a flyable airplane. The ATO’s King Air needs a new engine and there’s simply no money for it. Without the use of the King Air, ATO cannot hope to check our pilots periodically. Without those rigorous pilot checks, it is only natural for the FAA to sound the alarm bells for the government to respond, but then we always have a reactionary government that moves only when the die is cast. This is why we’re in this mess right now. This is not to mention that Filipinos are in great demand abroad, hence it is not easy to find check pilots who can work under the government’s present “standardization” pay scale, which doesn’t allow pilots to be given the proper salaries.

Then there’s the matter of upgrading radar and other navigation systems, which should have been done long ago, but there’s even no money to maintain the old ones. This is one of the casualties when the Americans left their bases in Clark and Subic. We used to rely on US protective radar screen… all that disappeared with the Americans and in truth, we didn’t care to install our own radars, let alone a good weather radar for PAGASA to use, which is why it cannot be relied on when the typhoon season comes.

So why is the ATO’s budget not enough? I gathered that one of the reasons for the lack of money is that many congressmen are asking the ATO to build new airports in their respective districts and worse, these congressmen just don’t want ordinary airports, but want the tag “international” to go with them, even if no international flights come or go to their airports. Call it a status symbol if you wish or plain “humbug,” but at the end of the day, there are no monies for radars and other vital navigation equipment as these funds are used to build the new status symbol airports.

How did congressmen allow this situation to happen? Simply whenever the budget for the ATO comes around, these congressmen “whisper” to the ATO their “desire” to build new airports so that the ATO budget would move smoothly. How do we know this? Just look at all the plans for new airports in ATO’s planning department and you’ll know what I mean. But there’s more to the ATO’s troubles than just building airports.

If you checked the terminal fees of most airports, like for instance the one at the Caticlan airport across Boracay, they only exact a P20 terminal fee, which without a doubt is not enough to even fix the toilets in what is supposed to be a premier tourist destination. Even the port of Caticlan charges a higher terminal fee than its own airport! See what I mean?

Let me point out that we had the same problem a long time ago when the Mactan International Airport was managed by the Bureau of Air Transportation (BAT) where we had a host of problems like toilets without toilet paper. Proudly we Cebuanos solved this problem, thanks to Rep. Raul del Mar and then Sen. John Osmeña who enacted a law creating the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA). Now everything we earn at the Mactan airport is plowed back to serve the community. I guess this is one of the most basic problems that the ATO is facing today and I gathered that plans are afoot to turn the ATO into an authority so that its revenues can be used to upgrade its facilities. So when will this happen?

GearX

January 21st, 2008, 04:31 AM

Yao Group to acquire Asian Spirit (http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20080121114957.html)
By BERNIE CAHILES–MAGKILAT

The Yao Group of Companies has acquired Asian Spirit, the country’s first and only cooperative airline concentrating on least traveled routes, in possible merger with Southeast Asian Airlines (SeaAir), a chartered flight airline that the company is also acquiring.

A source privy to the negotiation said that company chairman Alfredo Yao signed the purchase agreement for a total buyout of Asian Spirit middle of last week. The source, however, did not reveal the amount involved in the buy-out.

The source further noted that Asian Spirit may be merged with Seair.

A top official said that Yao noted the potential of air travel given the booming tourism business not just in the Philippines but in the entire Asian region.

This aggressive homegrown company, famous for its beverage products under the Zesto group, is eyeing for a majority 60 percent stake in SeaAir.

Asian Spirit was established by the Airline Employees Cooperative (AEC), a group of 36 founding members with varied airline discipline, in September 1995 as a domestic passenger airline with the mission to operate scheduled services to tourist destinations and secondary and tertiary airports where other airlines don’t dare to operate.

Asian Spirit endeavors to develop other destinations with tourism potentials, in line with the Department of Tourism’s Master Plan. The AEC is registered with the Cooperative Development Authority under the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines and other governing agencies.

The company made a stir when it flew to secondary and tertiary routes that have often been neglected and without dependable airline service.

It flew to San Jose, Cauayan, Boracay, Masbate, Virac, Daet, Batanes and Tablas developing these routes and re-established linkage with Mainila.

Antonio G. Buendia Jr. served as company president and Joaquino Ernesto L. Po as vice-president.

The company, however, suffered financially as bigger airlines put up a strong competition in the routes that Asian Spirit had developed and cultivated.

For instance, it used to fly to Tagbilaran but when Cebu Pacific dumped its rates Asian Spirit was forced to cease serving the Tagbilaran route.

The source said that with the acquisition of Asian Spirit, the Yao Group is expected to merge it with Seair, a charteredflight airline operating short routes in the country’s tourist destination islands, to beef up its operations.

The source added that Yao had finalized a 60-percent stake in Seair late last year.

Under the plan, the Yao Group plans to expand SeaAir’s limited chartered flight operations in the country as well as fly to other countries in the region.

SeaAir had plans to compete in the booming regional budget air travel with the expansion of its operations to Singapore and Macau after it forged an agreement with Tiger airways for a long term lease of two A320s.

The company is just awaiting for an approval by the Civil Aeronautics Board to fly the international routes.

Earlier, the company also planned to fly to Macau and Singapore using two A320s from the Diosdado Macalapagal International Airport in Clark .

The two aircrafts will be added to Seair’s existing fleet of 7 LET-410 planes, four Dornier 328 aircraft, the restored vintage Do24ATT seaplane.

Once all the necessary clearances obtained, the company may proceed with its plan to ask for incentive package before the Board of Investments.

It is the first 135 airline of the Philippines which complies with ISO 2001 standards.

At present, SeaAir operates its own in-house maintenance is located in an approx. 1,200 sq. meters facility at Clark Airfield, Pampanga.

It has 13 aircraft of which 8 are 19-seater Let 410. The remaining 5 aircraft are available for hire and consist of 2 Dornier-28 ( 9 passengers) , 1 Piper Cherokee ( 3 passengers),1 Alouette and 1 Citabria.

It flies to select destinations in the country including Clark, Antique, Bacolod , Baguio , Baler, Bantayan, Basco, Caticlan and Kalibo, Busuanga, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Calbayog, Camiguin Catarman, Zamboanga, Jolo and Tawi-Tawi.(BCM)

kiretoce

January 21st, 2008, 04:44 AM

Philippine Airlines expansion plans hit US turbulence (http://www.gulfnews.com/business/Aviation/10183492.html)

Manila, Philippines -- Philippine Airlines, the nation's biggest carrier, may delay a plan to add flights to Guam, San Francisco and Los Angeles after US regulators lowered the Southeast Asian nation's air-safety rating.

The only Philippine carrier with flights to the US planned to expand its Guam service by May and its San Francisco and Los Angeles flights by year-end, company president Jaime Bautista said in Manila. "We won't be able to sustain growth in the US in the coming fiscal year," Bautista said.

Revenue from US flights has been growing at as much as seven per cent a year, he said. US and Canadian flights account for a fifth of total sales.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lowered the Philippines' aviation safety rating to Category 2 from Category 1 "due to serious concerns,"about local regulation of airlines, the US Embassy said.

US nationals were advised to fly to and from the Philippines on airlines regulated by Category 1 countries.

While Philippine carriers may continue current flights, they'll be under "added surveillance," the embassy said. The airline can only add to its current 33 flights to the US by leasing planes and hiring pilots from a carrier regulated by a Category 1 country, company spokesman Rolando Estabillo said.

Philippine Airlines said it entered into similar leasing arrangements from 1994 to 1996 following a rating cut, resulting in "heavy losses." Philippine Airlines suspended debt payments in 1998 and posted annual losses through the year ended March 2004.

Earnings will suffer "significant impact,"if the FAA doesn't raise the Philippines' rating in time for the carrier to expand as planned next year, Bautista said. The airline plans to start serving New York, Seattle and other US cities when six Boeing 777-300ER planes it had agreed to purchase and lease begin arriving in September 2009, he said.

The airline plans to boost capacity 40 per cent a year starting 2009. The carrier, owned by tycoon Lucio Tan, expects to boost sales and recurring profit by eight per cent to 10 per cent by the end of March.

kiretoce

January 21st, 2008, 04:47 AM

ATO powerless to stand on its own (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/jan/21/yehey/top_stories/20080121top5.html)

Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza said on Sunday that the Air Transportation Office (ATO) can’t stand on its own as an agency, as he started work on improving air safety standards in the Philippines.

He was made concurrent chief of that office after President Gloria Arroyo fired Assistant Secretary Daniel Dimagiba because the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded the air-safety ratings of the Philippines from Category 1 to Category 2. That places the Philippines at the same level as Bangladesh, Cote D’Ivoire and other poor, war-ravaged countries.

The FAA said the country failed to comply with the aviation standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations created to promote safe and orderly development of international civil aviation. Among the FAA’s concerns were outdated aviation regulations, poor training programs for safety inspectors, and sub-standard licensing for airframe and engine inspectors.

The downgrade also affects Philippine Airlines (PAL), the only Filipino airline that flies to the US. PAL said the FAA downgrade prevents it from flying to new American cities or from upgrading the type of aircraft used on existing US routes.

The US Embassy in Manila also warned American nationals in the Philippines not to fly on Philippine planes because of “serious concerns” about safety standards.

Travel groups such the Network of Independent Travel Agencies, led by Chairman Robert Lim Joseph, are worried their businesses would be affected by the downgrade.

Mendoza, who will lead a press briefing and flag raising ceremonies at the Air Transportation Office in Pasay City today, said the current capacity of ATO is limited compared to the coverage and mandate of an air transportation authority with fiscal autonomy that could fully enforce the aviation rules.

Mendoza said they are now pushing for the enactment of a pending bill at Congress for the creation of a new air transport authority.

In a statement Sunday, Mendoza said he is ready to face the challenges of his assignment. President Arroyo gave him a three-month deadline to regain the Category 1 rating.

Mendoza has organized a committee, which he will chair, that will assist in addressing the concerns raised by the FAA. The committee includes consultants from ICAO and experts from the civil aviation industry, including the airlines and private industries. Resource persons will also be invited to share their expertise.

One problem that Mendoza has identified is the lack of radars. The Air Transportation Office only has three—located in Laoag, Cebu and Manila. The country needs five more in strategic parts of Mindanao and Visayas.

Also, the Air Transportation Office needs aircrafts to make a flight path for planes. It has been renting planes from New Zealand to do this.

kiretoce

January 21st, 2008, 05:12 AM

DHL ups flights on growing Manila-HK route (http://www.cargonewsasia.com/secured/article.aspx?id=7&article=15359)

DHL has increased the uplift capacity of its dedicated Manila and Hong Kong air service to meet growing cargo demand.

The enhanced dedicated service, operated by an Air Hong Kong Boeing 727-200 freighter, provides a cargo capacity of 24 tonnes, up from 19 tonnes previously.

The flight frequency has also been increased from four to five times a week. This represents a total payload capacity of 240 tonnes or a 58 percent (88 tonne) increase in payload capacity for the service. Air Hong Kong is a 60:40 joint venture between Cathay Pacific and DHL.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, exports from the Philippines to China grew by an average of 43.8 percent between 2000 and 2005, while imports from China to the Philippines grew by an average of 30.5 percent in the same period.

As a consequence, cargo volumes between Manila and Hong Kong are anticipated to rise significantly.

diz

January 21st, 2008, 06:30 AM

Air Philippines to buy six new aircraft (http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20080121-113708/Air-Philippines-to-buy-six-new-aircraft----report)

MANILA, Philippines -- Budget airline Air Philippines will buy six new Bombardier Dash aircraft for $120 million as part of a fleet upgrade, a report said Monday.

The domestic carrier owned by local magnate Lucio Tan, who also controls international carrier Philippine Airlines, will purchase the 76-seater 8-Q400 aircraft from Toronto-based Bombardier Aerospace, the Philippine Star said.

The acquisition during the fourth quarter of 2008 will be financed either through an operating lease, finance lease, or export credit, the newspaper said quoting unnamed airline officials.

The airline recently bought six Bombardier Q300 turbo-prop aircraft for $56 million to serve its expanded domestic route network, including new services to the tourist island of Boracay.

Air Philippines currently operates eight Boeing 737-200 jet aircraft serving 12 destinations in the Philippines from hubs in Manila and Cebu.

The paper said the airline will be phasing out its Boeing 737-200s and have its future fleet comprising Airbus A320s, newer 737 'Classics' and Bombardier Dash 8-Q400s in addition to Q300s.

kunoL8

January 21st, 2008, 08:30 AM

Sou-jiro

January 21st, 2008, 09:44 AM

I hope they fix up this mess soon...

its so disappointing..PAL has worked really hard & they finally got out of recievership through responsible management in the space of ten years....only to be affected by the downgrading...which really isnt they're fault at all....

what were all they're efforts for?>...& as for our other carriers..they will struggle to?

what can Mendoza do in space of 3 months?..Lets just see

Btw offtopic just curios.....how many daily flights does SQ have to Manila & what Aircraft & what config are the aaircraft SQ uses in Manila...never flew with them before..might try it later this year...cheers :D

tigidig14

January 21st, 2008, 09:53 AM

di ba industry ng air transportation ay oligopoly since this mergent

a s i a n a

January 21st, 2008, 01:46 PM

Frequency/equipment changes involving MNL and CEB
(airlineroute.blogspot.com)

Asiana Airlines
Seoul-Manila increased from 11x weekly to 2x daily (eff 10/28/2007)
Seoul-Cebu increased from 5x weekly to daily; used to operate daily except Monday & Thursday

Korean Air
Seoul-Cebu decreased from daily to 4x weekly on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday

Qatar Airways
Doha-Cebu increased from 3x weekly to 4x weekly on A332/333 service

Etihad
Manila has been added with 3 weekly flights on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday making it a daily 777-300ER service

Mandarin Airlines
Taipei-Cebu increased from 2x weekly to 4x weekly with services on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday on 737-800

Saudi Arabian Airlines
Jeddah-Riyadh-Hong Kong-Manila 1x weekly service from 743 to 772 (eff summer 2008)
Riyadh-Dammam-Manila 1x weekly 743 service to be cancelled (eff summer 2008)
Dammam-Riyadh-Hong Kong-Manila 1x weekly service from 743 to 772 (eff summer 2008)

jogavilz

January 21st, 2008, 02:14 PM

a s i a n a

January 21st, 2008, 04:19 PM

Since PR can't increase frequencies, can PR codeshare with other airlines flights to LAX and SFO even with the category 2 rating?

________

Air Philippines should acquire the New Generation 737 aircraft to replace its old B737-200s. The current livery of Air Philippines looks better on 737s than on A320s.

2P made a logical decision, leaving only its "mother" airline PR to compete with 5J in major domestic routes. 2P can have more profitability if they stick to the market where 6K and DG dominate for years.

kiretoce

January 21st, 2008, 07:37 PM

Since PR can't increase frequencies, can PR codeshare with other airlines flights to LAX and SFO even with the category 2 rating?

Codeshares mostly works if an airline can't fly to a certain destination therefore it codeshares with another carrier that services that route. In the case of PR, they already fly to LAX and SFO, therefore codesharing with another carrier is not neccessary, it's like "double dipping" in profits.

absinthe_888

January 21st, 2008, 08:01 PM

Zest-O owner in talks for purchase of stake in two airlines
http://bworld.com.ph/BW012208/content.php?id=043

ALFREDO M. YAO, Zest-O Corp. chairman, could be the majority owner of the Turalba-led airline Asian Spirit, with negotiations for a possible buyout now underway.

"We’re still negotiating right now, but nothing has been finalized... All I can say is the longer it takes, the less likely it would push through," Asian Spirit Chairman Antonio V. Turalba, Jr. told BusinessWorld in a phone interview yesterday.

The talks that started last year between Asian Spirit and the Yao group could end in two ways — either the interested buyer would acquire a 40% stake in Asian Spirit or purchase the entire airline company.

Mr. Turalba said he got the sense that the Yao group intends to buy the entire company.

"As much as possible I do not want that to happen, but there is that potential that a group can come in and provide the necessary funding for expansion," he said.

Mr. Turalba said the stiffer competition in the aviation sector prodded his family to consider the option of selling equity.

"Competition is tough. We are on a crossroad. It’s about time to be [on] par if not even better than others [airlines]."

"To be able to fight it out with the bigger airlines, we need to get bigger partners," he added.

Mr. Yao declined to comment on the developments, saying this was to avoid "preempting" results of the talks and "demoralizing" involved parties.

Mr. Yao had earlier said that he intended to purchase a stake in another budget carrier, the Southeast Asian Airlines, Inc. (SEAir).

SEAir President and Chief Executive Officer Avelino L. Zapanta yesterday said talks are still ongoing with a number of potential investors including the Yao group, but that an agreement had yet to be reached.

"There are interested [local] equity investors, who could take up as much as 60% of shares depending on how much would be agreed upon," Mr. Zapanta said in a phone interview.

Mr. Zapanta added that the amount raised from the equity sale will be used in SEAir’s expansion plans which would allow the airline to directly compete with Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines (PAL).

"PAL and Cebu Pacific are entering the routes that traditionally we are operating. We will bring competition in their doorsteps," he said.

Mr. Zapanta said soon after the deal, the airline would expand to trunk routes, or major routes with airports that can accommodate wide-body aircraft domestically.

SEAir is also awaiting the lease approval of two Airbus A320s from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). The brand new planes will be used for regional routes Singapore and Macau, which will start operating within the year. — Marian Grace S. Ramos

[B]New W. Visayas airports beckon to foreign carriers
http://bworld.com.ph/BW012208/content.php?id=053

SILAY CITY — The opening of the P5.6-billion New Bacolod-Silay Airport here last weekend is expected to draw international flights to Negros Occidental province, starting from other Southeast Asian countries.

Along with the new airport in Cabatuan, Iloilo, also in Western Visayas, the new airport here will be declared as an international gateway based on the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro R. Mendoza said the government will declare within the month that Bacolod-Silay airport will be opened to flights from neighboring countries.

Mr. Mendoza said he expects the New Bacolod-Silay Airport to trigger industrial and commercial development, in the same way that Mactan Cebu International Airport now has industrial zones nearby.

He said the country will host the Association of Southeast Asia Nation (ASEAN) transportation ministers meeting this December, at which month the Philippines will also sign an agreement to declare a regional "open skies" for ASEAN carriers.

"The more international destinations we have, the better for the country because we are going to be competitive," Mr. Mendoza said.

Promising

The new airport here, situated about 20 kilometers north of Bacolod, was opened 10 years after it was brought to the drawing board with funding from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

Eiichi Oshima, deputy chief of mission of the Japanese embassy in Manila, noted that Negros Occidental has the fifth highest air passenger traffic nationwide which increased by 50% in the last decade.

The opening of the new airport led to the closure of the 72-year-old Bacolod airport despite efforts by a local lobby group, led by Bacolod Mayor Evelio R. Leonardia, for its retention.

Mr. Mendoza said the Bacolod airport cannot continue commercial operations simultaneously with the Silay airport for safety reasons.

Vice-President Noli de Castro, who led the inauguration rites Friday, said the opportunities the new airport could bring to Silay City and to Negros Island "does not mean that Silay’s gain is Bacolod’s loss."

"Now Bacolod can concentrate on its competitive edge in commerce, business and the service sector," Mr. De Castro said.

Being a highly urbanized city, Bacolod has a great potential to develop central business districts and commercial mixed-use areas, he said, adding the old airport site — given its location and the developments in its immediate surroundings — can be transformed into a business district.

In Iloilo City, property developer Megaworld has acquired the old Iloilo airport site for development into residential and commercial areas.

Expansion

Meanwhile, Mr. De Castro said that, by the second quarter, work will start on the 500-meter extension of the Silay airport runway to accommodate larger aircraft from the United States and Europe. Today, the 2,000 meter runway can accommodate a 300-seater Airbus 330.

Bacolod Rep. Monico O. Puentevella, chairman of the House of Representatives Transportation committee on transportation, is also pushing the construction of the 10-kilometer road linking the Bacolod circumferential road to the new airport. The new road is expected to cut travel time from Bacolod to only 15 minutes.

Mr. Leonardia said he will ask the Air Transportation Office (ATO) not the remove the equipment at the old airport.

The mayor has met with Bacolod City police director Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar to ask for help in securing the airport equipment while city officials lobby for the reopening of the old airport.

ATO officials earlier said the equipment at the old airport would be transferred to a proposed new airport in Kabankalan, also in Negros Occidental.

The Bacolod Airport was established in 1936 while Bacolod was declared a city in 1938. — Nanette L. Guadalquiver with Chrysee G. Samillano

Aviation deficiencies resolved by April?
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW012208/content.php?id=051

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/4897/leandrowx0.jpg
Transportation Sec. Leandro R. Mendoza presides over the news conference with former Air Transport Office Officer-in-Charge Daniel A. Dimagiba at his side. — Photo by Jonathan L. Cellona

THE GOVERNMENT targets to enact the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) bill next month, as a start towards "substantial compliance" to the demands of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by April.

In a press conference yesterday, Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro R. Mendoza said his department (DoTC) can provide the amount needed to comply with the FAA’s standards, which the US agency has said shows that the Philippines has failed to meet benchmarks set by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

What ATO lacks, said Mr. Mendoza, is the mandate to enforce the changes. "Once we have the new CAAP law, I believe the remaining issues like salaries and equipment will be addressed Ang mga kulang mapupunan ’yan [Whatever else is lacking will be addressed]," he said.

The FAA downgrading that happened last December primarily pointed to the deficiencies of the current structure of the Air Transport Office (ATO).

On the sidelines of the press conference, former ATO Officer-in-Charge Daniel A. Dimagiba reiterated that ATO would need at least P5 billion to fully comply with FAA’s requirement.

"Funding is still the biggest constraint," Mr. Dimagiba said, adding that the current setup of the ATO — being fiscally dependent on congressional allocations — prevents it from fulfilling a stronger role in the country’s aviation development.

Last year, ATO reported P2.8 billion in revenues; this year it targets to collect up to P3 billion.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mendoza, who is also acting ATO head, said the DoTC will be allotting a portion of its P4-billion pump-priming budget for aviation to kick off the needed reforms. But Mr. Mendoza said that the maritime and telecoms sectors will also share in the P4 billion.

House of Representative Transport committee chairman Rep. Monico O. Puentevella of Bacolod said both chambers hope to approve the CAAP bill in the bicameral conference committee, which starts meeting on Jan. 30, by the second week of next month. House Bill 3156 and Senate Bill 1932 both seek to replace ATO with a stronger CAAP.

"It is an urgent bill. And now, the senators and congressmen know the urgency and gravity of the situation," Mr. Puentevella said in phone interview yesterday.

After that, Mr. Puentevella said, he would be optimistic that the downgraded category-2 rating slapped by the FAA would be lifted within six to 12 months.

"The important thing is that everybody cooperates. We would try to obvert [sic] the decision [of the FAA], hopefully before Christmas so that we would have a good tourism [turnout]," he added.

Both the Philippine Airlines and the association of travel agencies have warned of dire consequences to their revenues and growth should the US keep that rating this year. — Marian Grace S. Ramos

n773ph

January 21st, 2008, 09:16 PM

^^ :yes: Yes, larger than Dallas or Houston.

My opinion, PR should serve Washington, DC. It would only make sense to serve the national capital of the United States of America. Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD) in Virginia is capable of handling larger aircrafts compared to Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in downtown DC. Or they can opt to serve the DC area via Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) in Baltimore, only an hour's drive away.

Another big AMEN to that! I think during the late 90s, PAL had a codeshare agreement with AA to fly to IAD from LAX but was not implemented because of financial constraints. Filipinos in the MetroDC/ Baltimore area even as far as southern VA (Richmond-VA Beach area) can make a petition similar to the Capital to Capital campaign initiated by United when it applied for a direct route between IAD and Beijing. :banana: I don't mind driving an hour to IAD as long as we have direct flights back home!

Amen to that kiretoce!! Tiga Bethesda ako, right outside DC, and there is a big community of Filipinos here in DC, northern Virginia area, and Delaware, places which are relatively close to each other. When we moved here, I thought I wouldn't find any Jolly Bee or Pinoy markets, big surprise when the DC area has a growing little Pinoy town. Basta within the radius of DC lots of pinoys, sana PAL flies here. I posted a comment about this before, ang mahal kasi talaga when you fly other carriers like KE, NWA, AA. The only choices I have are AA, IAD to Narita, stop over in either LAX or DFW, then from Narita to MNL, it will be a flight with JALways on the NRT-MNL sector, as AA and JAL codeshare. There's KE, which I really love taking, direct flight to Seoul and from there transit to MNL, which is great-one stop over lang, but airfare with KE is sometimes really expensive. I'm going home to the RP this Feb, and my Y ticket in KE is almost $1900.00. Eh kung minsan syempre gusto ko rin ma feel ang business class kaya. :) Still waiting for that day when my company stops being chipipay and sending us on Y tickets to business trips. Defeats the purpose of "business class" if you ask me. ;P NWA is no better than AA, multiple stop overs, St. Paul or SFO and connections before even setting foot in Japan. Reagan is largely "point-to-point" domestic transition airport these days, with some international flights, mostly trans-Atlantic. IAD has more international flights than Reagan. I love taking the shuttle buses on IAD that ferry you from the main terminal, from one concourse/terminal to the next. :) PAL should really consider IAD.

love those shuttle busses too! have you tried taking NH? ok din sila. i tried flying with them via NRT kaso ung NRT-MNL leg is with JL pero the best ang service ng NH. I only had 2 hrs waiting time at kahit nasa economy ako, pakiramdam ko parang first class din. you can also take UA via NRT which leaves an hour after the NH-operated flight.

sonnyville

January 22nd, 2008, 12:10 AM

Another big AMEN to that! I think during the late 90s, PAL had a codeshare agreement with AA to fly to IAD from LAX but was not implemented because of financial constraints. Filipinos in the MetroDC/ Baltimore area even as far as southern VA (Richmond-VA Beach area) can make a petition similar to the Capital to Capital campaign initiated by United when it applied for a direct route between IAD and Beijing. :banana: I don't mind driving an hour to IAD as long as we have direct flights back home!
An hour isn't that bad. Wahh sana nga natuloy noh?? Well hopefully in the long run, they do decide on servicing IAD, or atleast the DC area. Oohh.. sana yung bagong boeing 777-300 nila noh??

love those shuttle busses too! have you tried taking NH? ok din sila. i tried flying with them via NRT kaso ung NRT-MNL leg is with JL pero the best ang service ng NH. I only had 2 hrs waiting time at kahit nasa economy ako, pakiramdam ko parang first class din. you can also take UA via NRT which leaves an hour after the NH-operated flight.

I've tried NH, tama ka talaga. They are by far exceptionally a little better than JAL, but I like to take both whenever I can. Sometimes kasi medyo cramped din ang feeling sa JAL Y on their 744's. I'm a close to 6'1 and this guy behind me was also 6' something, his knees were pushed right behind my seat. I noticed na hinde sya nakatulog kasi nahirapan syang mg recline ng seat. I didn't want to be mean and rude and recline mines. So for 10 hours I leaned against the window and didn't get enough sleep. Yeah I know, fly business or first class next time? Not so easy to say when it's IAD to MNL, and Y is already expensive, plus limited option of carriers to take. Both lack something from the other though, like you said, NH doesn't directly fly to MNL, but their cabins are so spacious and immaculately comfortable.

Got this pet peeve, I just remembered when I was on JAL flight to MNL.
I noticed that people are sometimes rude and don't check with the people behind them to see if they're okay, lalo na if it's Y cabin, not the most luxurious traveling option, but it does get us around right? They just suddenly recline and I saw this personally happen one time, mga Pilipino talaga kung minsan walang manners. This guy was still eating, and the woman in front who occupied an entire row already suddenly decided to fully recline and his soup got all over him, it got all over my coat. She knew they were giving out dinner, she decided to pass on it and went to sleep, but she knew the guy in the back probably wanted to eat his dinner. She didn't even bother to say excuse and sorry! Went straight to la la land. :bash: Respect and courtesy right? We all deserve it naman, especially when we're not flying in style and we've been in the air for 18+ hours. :ohno: Sorry... I thought I would just throw this out there.

Anyways, wish NH flew directly to MNL. But I've had excellent experiences with JAL, and the transition at NRT with JAL is always a pleasant one for me. 2 hours at most for the connecting flight at NRT, ample time to stroll around Narita for a bit and have misu soup or something. I also had only 2 hours waiting time with JAL, even with economy. I like that JAL services the MNL route with a classic 747, and it's always almost full. At least alam ko hinde ako magugutom with JAL, kasi palagi silang dumadaan with food and sake :) or with something to drink. The only thing that I must protest and hate is the departure in MNL. I know it's not JAL's fault, pero walang hiya, lahat pabubuksan at kakalkalin prior to the waiting area and gate, ang sakit pa ng mga tingin kung minsan ng mga ng kakalkal, kakapalan pa ang mga mukha at mg hihinge ng pera. Yeahh security and all, but sometimes it's not, more than that. Err... let me enjoy this memorable trip home atleast naman, ang aga ng flight at na mmiss ko na mga kapamilya tapos hhold upin pa ako. Sabe pa... please sire akin na lang? Ano?? pati bagoong ddeprive pa ako? Binuksan yung nakabalot na newspaper, bagoong!! ;P Aba napahiya nung nakita laman ng hand carry ko bagoong!! hahaha ;P Bagoong is limited in the East Coast, ang mahal pa!

Chrisvenz

January 22nd, 2008, 03:50 AM

Air Philippines should acquire the New Generation 737 aircraft to replace its old B737-200s. The current livery of Air Philippines looks better on 737s than on A320s.

cool. nice. i hope air phil will purchase the 737-800...
its very cool for air phil... hehehe

Sinjin P.

January 22nd, 2008, 06:19 AM

‘RP to regain Category
1 status in 3 months’
(http://businessmirror.com.ph/01222008/nation04.html)
By Recto Mercene

Reporter

TRANSPORTATION Secretary Leandro Mendoza, who took over the helm of the Air Transportation Office (ATO) in a concurrent capacity, said on Monday that the country would try to regain its Category 1 status in three months but warned that this is only possible if the Civil Aviation Authority (Caa) bill pending in Congress were approved.

“The Ato could regain its [Federal Aviation Administration] Category 1 status with the passage of that bill into law. Passage of the bill would allow us to offer competitive salaries because we would have fiscal autonomy and the technical people would be exempted from the salary standardization law,” Mendoza said during a news conference.

Mendoza went to the Ato on Monday morning to start his three-month stint as officer in charge (OIC), arriving at exactly 8 a.m. to attend the flag ceremony followed by a two-hour long briefing with Ato officials.

The Ato was downgraded from Category 1 to Category 2 status after the FAA found that it is deficient in technical staff and documentation, among other things.

While the bill is still pending in Congress, Mendoza said that the Ato is preparing the transition from Ato to the CAA by hiring more pilots and training additional air-traffic controllers.

He said that the Ato would offer competitive salaries for pilots, train more air controllers but did not say how much the agency is offering.

“The government can come up with the resources needed but the Ato needs legislation so that we could proceed with the training of check-pilots and airworthiness inspectors.”

He added that he was given assurance by President Arroyo of fiscal support to fast-track the ATO’s rehabilitation.

At the moment, the Ato has only 12 check-pilots, and needs 32 more. It also has only 27 airworthiness inspectors, 25 airline inspectors (who are pilots) and 300 air controllers in its employ.

Mendoza said that it would be easy to hire the pilots, but having them undergo simulator training would take some time. Each pilot pays $500 per hour of training at a minimum of four hours so that the total amount the Ato has to pay for the 12 check- pilots would be $24,000 (P1.2 million at P50 per $1 rate).

“But that is only for one type of airplane,” Mendoza added, saying that the requirement is to have one certified pilot of each type of airplane, such as B737, B777, B747 and the Airbus family of A319, A320, A300, A340, not counting the dozens of smaller types of airplanes owned by private flying schools, executive jets and charter services.

AH-7Raja

January 22nd, 2008, 06:51 AM

Kuwait firms plan $10-B in RP investments

A group of Kuwaiti firms, including logistics provider Agility, plans to invest more than $10 billion in infrastructure projects in the Philippines, the company leading the group said on Tuesday.

The companies plan to develop airports, ports, railway lines, power stations and telecommunications in the Southeast Asian state, investment firm Al-Abraj Holding Co. said in a statement on the Kuwait bourse Web site.

The firms would carry out the projects through a holding company to be based in Europe, of which the Kuwaiti partners would own 75 percent and Argon, the only non-Kuwaiti company in the group, 25 percent, the statement said.

The consortium includes Kuwaiti investment firms International Leasing & Investment and al-Mal Investment Co., it said.

mambo

January 22nd, 2008, 09:05 AM

heres another news story.......

Agility to invest $10bn in the Philippines

by Ulf Laessing on Wednesday, 16 January 2008

BOOMING ECONOMIES: A shot of the Philippines' capital Manila. Gulf companies are looking to invest more and more in Asian countries. Kuwaiti firms including logistics provider Agility plan to invest more than $10 billion in infrastructure projects in the Philippines, the company leading the group said on Tuesday.

The firms and one non-Kuwaiti company plan to develop airports, ports, railways, power stations and telecommunications, Kuwait investment firm Al-Abraj Holding Company said in a statement.

The deal is pending a signing with the Philippine government expected at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, later this month, Al-Abraj Deputy chairman Sameer Nasser Ali Hussein told newswire Reuters.

The Philippines government has said it wants to invest 1.7 trillion pesos ($41 billion) in its power, water, telecommunications and transport industries by 2010. Last year, it offered 10 infrastructure projects worth $2 billion to foreign investors.

Gulf Arab states and companies, buoyed by record oil prices, have been looking to invest more in Asia, where economies are growing faster than in Europe and the US, traditional destinations for their surplus funds.

Qatar's $60 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), said last month it plans to spend at least $850 million in Indonesia, its biggest commitment to the country.

Kuwait's Al-Abraj said the group would set up a holding company in Europe, of which the Kuwaiti partners would own 75% and British firm Argon, acting on behalf of Philippine authorities, 25%. This could change a little, Hussein said.

He said Al-Abraj wanted to raise the money possibly through an initial public offering, while Philippine institutions would also contribute to the project.

Kuwaiti partners include International Leasing & Investment and Al-Mal Investment Company, Al-Abraj said.

Agility said negotiations were continuing. "A big part of this project would come to Agility," Hussein said.

The biggest investment from the Middle East in the Philippines is a 40% stake held by state-owned Saudi Aramco in Petron Corporation, the largest oil refiner in the country. (Reuters)

a s i a n a

January 22nd, 2008, 05:00 PM

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/43/Philippine-Airlines25.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Philippine-Airlines24.jpg

from Wiki

kiretoce

January 22nd, 2008, 05:11 PM

^^ I see an A380 there, if only....

kiretoce

January 22nd, 2008, 07:40 PM

Philippine Airlines to push Guam expansion (http://www.mvariety.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=5516&format=html)

Philippine Airlines has indicated that it will continue with its planned expansion in the U.S., including Guam, despite restrictions imposed recently by American aviation authorities.

According to the Reuters news agency, PAL would not alter aircraft orders from Boeing and Airbus despite recent flight restrictions on the Philippines imposed by U.S. aviation authorities.

"We are committed to take delivery of these planes and pay for these airplanes," Jaime Bautista, PAL president, told Reuters.

PAL is due to take delivery of five A320 jets this year and six new Boeing 777-300ER jets beginning in 2009.

The airline planned to use the Airbus jets to raise its flight frequencies to Guam, Saipan and Palau.

PAL wants to fly to Guam daily from just five flights per week now.

PAL's orders of new Boeing 777-300ER jets were meant for its planned expansion of flight routes to the U.S. mainland.

The airline currently flies just two routes to the continental United States -- San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Downgrade

The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has downgraded the country to category 2 from category 1 after inspections showed the Philippine Air Transportation Office (ATO) did not meet global safety standards.

As the only Philippine carrier flying to the United States, the downgrade means PAL cannot increase its flights to U.S. territories from the current 33 per week, as against an unlimited frequency under category 1.

Bautista said the restriction meant the airline would have to delay planned increases and expansion in flight frequencies to various U.S. routes until the ATO rectifies its deficiencies.

"It's not our making, but we are the ones most affected because of the deficiencies of the ATO," Bautista said, adding that he hopes local air transport authorities could comply with international standards within the year and fast track the return to unlimited air access to the United States.

PAL has said that it will continue to operate flights to the U.S . despite FAA's downgrading of the country to a Category 2 safety rating.

PAL said it will be restricted by FAA to the 33 weekly flights it currently operates to the US and will not be able to change aircraft types used on the routes, meaning that six 777-300ERs scheduled to begin delivering next year will not be able to be deployed as planned unless FAA upgrades the country's status.

"We lament FAA's decision. We hope the Philippine aviation authorities will soon be able to rectify the assessed deficiencies in its air safety oversight functions so the country can revert to Category 1," Bautista said.

With the FAA restriction, PAL could add service to its U.S. destinations only if it wet-leases aircraft from an airline operating in a Category 1 country.

Philippine officials have already expressed concern that the downgrade will gravely affect inbound and outbound tourism traffic as well as cargo traffic and investments inflow to the Philippines.