Philippine Airlines said it will ask the incoming Duterte administration to resolve a dispute with the Kuwaiti government over fifth freedom rights.
“We will revive our request and we will discuss it to the new administration. We are very hopeful that [under] the Duterte administration, there would be a defined aviation policy,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said.
Bautista earlier sent a letter to the Foreign Affairs Department after Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation prevented PAL from exercising its right as a Philippine-designated carrier to avail of fifth freedom traffic rights.
Fifth freedom is the freedom to pick up passengers and cargo from a foreign country and carry them to a second country, which is the final destination.
The rights are granted under the Philippine-Kuwait Bilateral Air Services Agreement of 1977, as amended in April 1995 and February 2009.
“Kuwait have enjoyed [their rights] for the last 20 years. Now we want to take advantage of that right. We are not granted that right ,that is why we are asking the government and hopefully the new government will attend to [it],” Bautista said.
PAL launched a four-times weekly service between Manila and Kuwait (via Dubai) on Jan. 17 this year to serve the flight needs of Filipinos in that state, using a 414-seater Airbus A330 every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The DGCA, however, only authorized PAL to carry passengers and cargo traveling solely between the Philippines and either Kuwait or Dubai.
The Philippines’ Civil Aeronautics Board suspended Kuwait Airways’ Bangkok-Manila fifth freedom privileges effective March 27 to address the imbalance.
CAB, however, permitted Kuwait Airways to increase its flights to Manila from six to eight weekly, a move which PAL also vehemently opposed.
“We intend to exhaust all available avenues to resolve this issue. We urge the CAB to reconsider any grant of additional rights to Kuwait Airlines, until and unless PAL is granted its basic air rights as allowed under existing agreements,” PAL senior vice president and general counsel Siegfried Mison said.
The flag carrier is urging immediate resolution that will ensure equal opportunity for designated airlines and uphold the integrity of sovereign bilateral agreements.
