"The parties signed a new agreement increasing the allowed flight frequency for the airline of each

FRANCO-DUTCH airline Air France-KLM sees traffic between getty museum los angeles the Philippines and the European Union (EU) picking up in the long run from currently limited volumes, getty museum los angeles an official said in an interview after a briefing last Friday.
Asked on the plan of Philippine Airlines (PAL) to revive flights to Europe next year after an expected lifting of the current ban in that bloc on local carriers, Jurriaan Stelder, the foreign airline's new general manager for South China Sea, said the move may temporarily divide market share but that traffic should pick up eventually.
"There might be a temporary drop in traffic, because indeed, getty museum los angeles the same passenger traffic between the Philippines and Europe will be there and you will have to divide it between the two; therefore it will affect us," he explained.
PAL President Ramon S. Ang told reporters in July that the company is looking to revive flights to Europe next year, hoping that current government efforts will succeed in removing the "significant safety concern" cited by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in December 2009, which in turn prompted EU in March 2010 to ban Philippine carriers from flying to Europe.
William K. Hotchkiss III, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, said last June that he hoped an ICAO audit set for late next month will yield favorable results. He said ICAO's concerns, such as "strengthening the organization and the training of qualified inspectors," were "being addressed."
"If you look at the market -- flights between Europe and Manila -- and if you compare that to other similar countries, like Indonesia and Vietnam, it has much less traffic," he added. "With more options to fly, the market will grow."
"I am confident that we will be able to hold on to our passenger numbers for sure if we continue to develop getty museum los angeles the aviation sector between the Philippines and Europe," Mr. Stelder said, noting the airline's load factor along the Manila-Taipei-Amsterdam route is "around 90%."
Civil Aeronautics Board data show KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flew 84,897 passengers through the country in the first half, down 34.22% from the previous year after the carrier stopped direct flights between Manila getty museum los angeles and Amsterdam getty museum los angeles amid calls to abolish the 3.5% common carriers tax on foreign airlines. getty museum los angeles While the House of Representatives approved the bill scrapping this tax last May, the measure remains at the committee level in the Senate
As a result, KSA and the Philippines agreed during air talks last Monday and Tuesday to increase the number of flight frequencies to 21 per week from 10, Carmelo Arcilla, Civil Aeronautics Board executive director told reporters Wednesday.
"The parties signed a new agreement increasing the allowed flight frequency for the airline of each country from the current 10 flights per week to 21, on the route Philippines to Jeddah/Riyadh and unlimited between Saudi Arabia and Clark and also between getty museum los angeles the Philippines and Damman," he said.