PAL cancels Taiwan flights

PAL cancels Taiwan flights

MANILA (AFP): Philippine Airlines (PAL) canceled all flights to Taiwan from Friday due to a "still unresolved" aviation dispute, as Manila and Taipei both edged closer to scrapping direct air links.

"As of 6 p.m. (1000 GMT) today, Philippine Airlines was forced to cancel its Manila-Taipei and Taipei-Manila services tomorrow ... in the absence of official advice from Taiwan concerning the lapsed Air Services Agreement between the Philippines and Taiwan," the flag carrier said in a statement.

Two PAL flights bound for Taipei and their return flights to Manila scheduled on Friday were affected, it said.

PAL said it will "evaluate the situation" on Friday to decide what to do in the succeeding days.

The Philippines suspended a bilateral aviation accord in late July, accusing Taiwan carriers China Airlines (CAL) and Eva Air of using aircraft larger than allowed and taking passengers to third-country destinations.

Manila gave the Taiwanese airlines until September 30 to agree to reduce combined weekly passenger volumes to 3,000 from the current 9,600 or stop flying the Manila route beginning October 1.