RP allows Cathay to fly local routes
RP allows Cathay to fly local routes
MANILA (Reuters): Philippine President Joseph Estrada said on
Saturday that Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways would start
flying domestic routes from Monday to fill the vacuum caused by
the closure of Philippine Airlines (PAL).
The government will let other airlines operate PAL's
international routes, he said.
"They (Cathay) will start operations on Monday," Estrada said
in an interview with radio station DZMM. This makes Cathay
Pacific the first foreign airline allowed to fly passengers and
cargo on domestic routes, aviation officials said.
"(Cathay) will send immediately five Airbuses and three other
planes owned by PAL will be used," Estrada added.
"I don't bother much about international flights because there
are other planes," Estrada said in an earlier interview with
radio station DZRH. "I am more concerned about domestic flights
because they affects business."
PAL and other domestic airlines welcomed news of Cathay
Pacific's entry to the local aviation business.
"Whatever the government will do to alleviate the
inconvenience of the Filipino people can help," said PAL's vice
president for sales Avelino Zapanta.
"Cathay Pacific (asked) for our domestic fares and schedules
so we gave it to them. After all, we are no longer in operation,"
Zapanta told Reuters by phone.
"It's a welcome development to get us over the hump in the
short term," an Air Philippines official said.
But foreign airlines should be allowed to fill the void left
by PAL only temporarily, the official told Reuters. "(The
government) should give local airlines a chance to prove that
they can service the demand," he added.
PAL, Asia's oldest national airline, closed down at midnight
on Wednesday with US$2.0 billion of debts after failing to reach
a deal with the unions to secure its future.
The airline closed after unions rejected a management offer of
a 20 percent equity stake in PAL in return for a 10-year
suspension of the collective bargaining agreement. Estrada gave
no details of how the arrangement with Cathay would work and said
he did not believe the government would need congressional
approval for the entry of a foreign airline to the domestic
aviation business.
In Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific said on Saturday that it would
initially operate 10 domestic flights a day linking key cities in
the Philippines using Airbus 330-300 aircraft. Additional
destinations and flights will be added as the situation develops,
it said.
Cathay currently runs 38 round-trip flights a week between
Hong Kong and the Philippines, 34 between Hong Kong and Manila
and four between Hong Kong and Cebu.
Since PAL closed, passengers on domestic routes have had to
queue for days to get seats on one of the four other domestic
airlines.