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Monday May 12, 2:03 PMPhilippines Govt to Prioritise Air Talks With CanadaMANILA, May 12 Asia Pulse - The Philippine government will prioritize air talks with Canada this month in order to increase seat entitlements for airline passengers between the two countries.Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Finance and Administration Franklin Ebdalin is now at Vancouver, Canada to renegotiate the air deal agreement with Vancouver authorities. Ebdalin said the Philippines would like to seek up 14 flights per week to Canada. There was higher demand for seats due to the increase in the number of Filipinos going to Canada, as well as tourists coming from Vancouver and vice versa, Ebdalin said. He would be away until May 17 and hopefully the agreement would be finalized. The Philippines and Canada signed an agreement in January 1997, but due to the increase in passengers going to Canada, Philippine Airlines (PAL), the national flag carrier, has asked for more flight entitlements. Jaime Bautista, PAL president and CEO said that PAL had only been granted a temporary permit that allows flight schedule of five times a week in the months of October to March. The permit was renewed only up to April 2008. PAL wanted to add direct flights to Canada and to the United States destinations with a stopover in Vancouver, Bautista said. The resumption of air talks with Canada had made PAL hopeful, but a snag may still derail the flag carriers plans for North America. Complicating matters was the recent downgrading of the Air Transportation Office (ATO), the air security agency by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from Category 1 to Category 2. FAAs Category 2 prohibits PAL from increasing is flights to the United States and its territories and from changing the type or increasing the number of aircraft used on these routes. Currently, PAL flies to Las Vegas via Vancouver. It planned to fly to San Diego, Chicago, New York, Seattle and Saipan before the FAA decision. Canada has intensified hiring of Filipinos to fill up the booming economies of its provinces. The Canadian government has also implemented new rules where Filipinos could become immigrant within three years of employment. There are around 80,000 Filipinos in Canada as immigrants and working as caregivers. The air talks panel is composed of the officials from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), Departments of Transportation and Communications, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Industry, Tourism and representatives from airline companies. (PNA) |
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