United States wants more open Asian skies

United States wants more open Asian skies

HONG KONG (Reuter): U.S. Transportation Secretary Federico
Pena said on Saturday the value of international travel to the
Pacific and Asia will soon overtake Atlantic routes.

Pena, on a 17-day mission to open Asian aviation markets to
U.S. carriers and help win contracts for U.S. companies, said the
United States wanted Asian skies to be opened up more to air
traffic.

"The significance of aviation in Asia is extraordinary. Today,
the value of international aviation in the Atlantic is about
US$7.1 billion," he said.

"But the value of traffic in the Pacific, between U.S. and the
Pacific, is US$6.8 billion. We predict that in a year or so, the
value of international travel between United States and the Asian
market will exceed the Atlantic routes."

Pena said Asia could learn from the U.S. experience of
liberalizing aviation.

"We are trying to get people to focus on our experience in the
U.S., which is that when you have a deregulated environment, you
have more competition, lower prices, higher quality and more
travel," he said.

"So in our discussions with a number of countries here, we are
obviously urging that there be more opportunities for U.S.
carriers. Also we believe that it is important to recognize the
role of 'beyond rights' -- the ability to fly to one country and
beyond to elsewhere.

"We'd like fewer restrictions. The fewer, the better."

Pena said he would sign three air pacts, between the U.S and
Hong Kong, Macau and the Philippines, during his trip.

The United States and Hong Kong signed a draft air services on
Friday which allows Hong Kong airlines to fly to 14 cities in
U.S. It will also allow U.S. airlines to carry freight from Hong
Kong to Asian destinations.

"In the case of Philippines, over a period of years we will
end up with an open skies agreement," said Pena.

He has visited Tokyo, Hanoi, and will be going on to Macau,
Indonesia and Malaysia before Osaka and the Philippines.

But China, potentially the largest air travel market in Asia,
is not on his itinerary. "A visit (to China) is not scheduled.
That's a function of my time, in terms of what my travel plans
are next year," he said.

Pena was scheduled to visit China in January this year, but
Beijing postponed the visit after he visited Taiwan in December
1994 and met Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui.

The issue of opening Asian aviation markets to foreign
carriers and replacing bilateral air pacts with multilateral
agreements is a thorny one.