Business Mirror
December 20, 2010
IN a rare alliance among competitors, rival airlines have joined forces in seeking a cease-and-desist order (CDO) against Manila-based Southeast Asian Airlines (Seair) and Singaporean budget carrier Tiger Airways which they accuse of violating CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board) laws.
“It is noted that all four Philippine carriers took the unprecedented step of filing said consolidated opposition, in which we jointly requested the Board to issue a CDO directing Seair and Tiger to stop selling and promoting the Clark-Singapore vice-versa flights until the board is able to investigate the matter to determine if Seair and Tiger activities and operations fully comply with Philippine laws, rules and regulations,” said Philippine Airline (PAL) senior assistant vice president Socorro Gonzaga.
PAL, Air Philippines Corp. Zest Airways, Cebu Air asked the CAB to launch a full and exhaustive investigation into the matter for the purpose of asserting, among others, that the marketing agreement signed between Seair and Tiger is in strict compliance with the terms of the CAB Resolution 51 issued in 2008.
Section E of the said policy states that (Seair) should not allow (Tiger) access to traffic rights not otherwise available to (Tiger) or otherwise be used as a means to circumvent existing laws against cabotage access by Tiger.
Section F, meanwhile, states that no financial benefit shall be obtained by (Tiger) nor shall lease price be dependent on the profit or loss of the operation of (Seair).
Tiger earlier announced that it inked a marketing and lease agreement with Seair. Under the deal, Seair will be lent two Tiger Airways jets, which will be the biggest aircraft in Seair’s fleet. Seair flights will also be sold on Tiger’s website.
The airlines opposing Seair and Tiger’s so-called partnership arrangement believe that the agreement is not limited to that dry leasing by Seair of A320 aircraft from Tiger.
The CAB previously mandated Seair and Tiger to submit a copy of their marketing agreement but opposing carriers a sanitized may not be enough to allow the board to determine whether the two carriers are indeed complying with the said conditions. As such, they asked the CAB officials to closely scrutinize the marketing arrangement between Seair and Tiger. This may entail a meticulous review of the marketing agreement, a close monitoring of their marketing and distribution activities, and as requested above, a full blown investigation and hearing on the matter,” the airlines said.
Also, they alleged that Seair may be engaged in an act of air commerce without a valid approval from the CAB, which is a violation of the pertinent provisions of Republic Act 776. “A check of the web sites of both Tiger and Seair show that the flights are already available for booking and purchase.
However, there is express notation to the effect that, the [DG flights are subject to regulatory approval.’ The same strongly implies that Seair has not yet obtained approval to market and sell the flights from either the CAB or Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.”
“Given the foregoing, we further request the board to immediately issue a CDO directing Seair and Tiger to stop advertising and offering the said flights for booking and sale until such time as the Board has determined that the activities being undertaken by Seair and Tiger are compliant with Philippine law, rules and regulations,” they said.
The letter was addressed to CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla and was signed by Enrique Antonio Esquivel and Ma. Clara de Castro, counsels for PAL; Paterno Mantaring Jr., Cebu Pacific lawyer; Butch Rodriguez, Zest Airways senior vice president for commercial and external affairs; and John Voltaire Almeda, Air Philippines lawyer.
Aside from Seair and Tiger, Malaysia’s Air Asia announced plans to put up a unit in the country. Its founding chair, Tony Fernandes, recently formed a joint venture with businessmen Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco, Michael Romero and Maan Hontiveros to put up Air Asia Philippines. This will be Air Asia’s third affiliate in the region, following the establishment of Air Asia Indonesia and Air Asia Thailand.
As this developed, Cebu Pacific said in a statement last week that it prepared for the increased competition in the local air travel sector.
“We are lean-and-mean efficient, with a very young fleet of Airbus aircraft and a highly motivated team. This year, our financial performance ranks among the best in the world. We are ready for more competition in our own country and in theirs,” said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and distribution.
Cebu Pacific also announced that its flight attendants will perform their famous “safety dance” on board select flights this holiday season.
In a separate statement, the Gokongwei-led budget carrier announced that its “Cabin Crew Safety Dance” would be making a comeback from December 20 to 31.
“It has been previously performed only on two flights, one from Manila to Butuan and another from Manila to Davao, to gather passenger feedback,” the company said in a statement.
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