LOCAL AIRLINES are expected to capitalize on the expanding tourism market between the Philippines and South Korea, following the recent bilateral air services agreement.
The deal allows an increase in the seat entitlements for flights between the two countries, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said in a statement on Monday.
“AirAsia considers this opportunity as a strong indicator that outbound tourism is in its sustaining phase, being backed with the guests’ appetite for travel,” AirAsia Philippines said in a statement to BusinessWorld.
The low-cost airline said it will plan the seat entitlement increase by optimizing its current capacity and integrating it into its future flight expansion plans to South Korea.
To date, the airline operates daily flights to Seoul.
Under the new agreement, the Philippines and South Korea will have an additional 10,000 seats per week to 30,000 from an existing capacity of 20,000, the DoTr said.
“In this recent move to liberalize the exercise of third and fourth freedom traffic, the two countries agreed to set a 30,000 weekly seat capacity exclusively for the Manila to Incheon, vice versa route and to impose no limits on flights from Manila to all other points in Korea,” the department said.
Since 2017, flights between Manila and South Korea have been capped at 20,000 weekly seats each way, according to the DoTr.
The department added that flights between points outside Manila and all destinations in South Korea will remain unrestricted, as per the memorandum of understanding.
South Korea was identified as one of the top tourism markets for the Philippines since the pre-pandemic period. The continued travel recovery continued to boost travel demand with incoming Korean tourists reaching more than half a million or 682,362 in May alone.
“The increase in capacity will be felt by the market once airlines take advantage of the opportunity to carry more passenger traffic between the capital cities of the two countries,” the DoTr said.
Further, the DoTr said that the Philippines has proposed an amendment to the bilateral air transport agreement with South Korea, allowing the Philippines to designate its airlines on routes between the two countries.
“Though an agreement on the matter was not reached, the two delegations agreed to further discuss the same, along with Korea’s proposal to allow third country code-sharing arrangements, in the next round of consultations,” DoTr said.
BusinessWorld requested comments from Cebu Pacific and flag carrier Philippine Airlines, but had not received a response by the deadline.
Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific is set to resume four domestic flights from Clark International Airport to strengthen connectivity for travelers from Luzon.
“This resumption underscores our commitment to offering greater accessibility to travelers from north and central Luzon and provide every Juan with more opportunities to discover the beauty and diversity of the Philippines, one destination at a time,” Cebu Pacific President and Chief Commercial Officer Alexander G. Lao said in a media release on Monday.
Cebu Pacific said it will resume flights between Clark and Puerto Princesa starting on Oct. 2.
Additionally, flights between Clark and General Santos, and Clark and Iloilo will be reinstated on Oct. 21, while flights between Clark and Davao will commence on Oct. 22.
Upon the resumption of these routes, Cebu Pacific will operate flights to 10 domestic and international destinations from Clark.
The airline said that it also offers direct flights from Clark to Boracay, Cebu, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Narita, and Singapore.
Currently, Cebu Pacific operates flights to 35 domestic and 25 international destinations across Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
