Open skies, open season

SPY BITS By Babe Romualdez (The Philippine Star) Updated March 22, 2011 12:00

PNoy’s “pocket” open skies policy – with foreign airlines allowed to expand flights to selected parts of the country – continues to draw skepticism from various sectors. For one, there is the issue of reciprocity. While local carriers are limited to a specific number of flights to other countries, the open skies policy would be like “open season” for foreign airlines since they could virtually fly freely in and out of the country, critics pointed out. Of course, Palace officials are downplaying the objections, explaining that the concept of reciprocity has a very broad definition which is not limited to just how much right will be given foreign carriers vis-à-vis local airlines, but also includes “other” benefits like the number of investments that could come in.

But the biggest question now is whether the Philippines is ready in terms of infrastructure and other support facilities. The Ninoy Aquino International Airport only has two runways and three terminals serving close to 40 carriers –which means some 40 planes taking off every two hours. Private aircraft operators also use the main runways with waiting time at the tarmac sometimes for as long as one and a half hours to get clearance for takeoff. Just imagine the aviation fuel wasted by all these aircraft waiting at the tarmac. There is a suggestion that smaller private planes should be limited to the Cubi point Sangley airport to decongest NAIA. Officials however have clarified that the pocket open skies policy does not include NAIA and that a panel will be tasked to determine which secondary airports will be included in the order – but that’s just like putting the cart before the horse. 

Tourism Secretary Bert Lim who has been batting for an open skies policy over the past years is optimistic that visitors will breach the five-million mark by 2016 – but one can only imagine just how that can be done when many of our airports have poorly maintained terminal facilities with no water in the toilets and very poor ventilation. So how do we expect to attract more tourists – both of the local and foreign variety – with such poor standards? Aside from security and good service, airports should offer comfort for travelers – but this is almost impossible to maintain when airports are congested.

And then there is also the Category 2 rating that the country has been slapped with by the International Civil Aviation Organization – which in simple terms means that the country is the same, or not much better than third world African countries. If we really want to attract more visitors, we should work on acquiring a Category 1 status to put the country up to par with international aviation safety standards. But if the administration insists on implementing the open skies policy, then it should look into the possibility of transferring operations to Subic Bay International Airport with its huge passenger terminal and 9,000-foot runway and eventually making the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport or Clark Airport the primary airport for international operations whose parallel runways are capable of accommodating new generation wide-bodied aircraft, with the huge aviation complex (in fact, one of the biggest in Asia) able to sustain even cargo operations.