THOUSANDS of vacationing overseas Filipino workers find themselves “stranded” at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport waiting for their chance to fly as virtual “chance passengers” because there are very limited seats to take them back to their place of work. --RECTO MERCENE

WHEN Rexz Maranan came home from London via the Middle East to bury his 80-year-old mother in January, he expected to be away from his work for about two weeks before returning to his job at the Heathrow Airport as a security officer.  Instead, Maranan spent more than a month in his hometown of Santa Cruz, Laguna, unable to book a seat on any of the five Middle Eastern carriers, and finally buying a ticket for $1,200 (instead of the $500 given to OFWs), by taking a plane to Hong Kong and then a connecting flight to Heathrow via Frankfurt.

Not only was the additional air fare a burden; he almost lost his job.

Maranan’s plight is not unique to the thousands of vacationing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), including those newly hired, who find themselves “stranded,” in a manner of speaking, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) waiting for their chance to fly as virtual “chance passengers.”

Illustration by Jimbo Albano

Every year, from January until about May, following the long holiday season, thousands of these OFWs are left marooned in their country simply because there are very limited seats to take them back to their place of work. This has been going on annually for the past few years despite a total of 70 flights allowed for the five Arab airlines plying this lucrative route.

Qatar, Gulf Air, Emirates, Saudia and Etihad Airways dominate the destination from Manila to all of the Gulf States destinations, having edged out Philippine Airlines (PAL) and European airlines in the highly competitive market 10 years ago.

PAL asserts that since the Gulf carriers are subsidized by their respective governments, they can dive down the cost of air tickets, thus, it’s an uneven playing field. The Gulf airlines counter that PAL enjoys code-sharing arrangements with some of them, and earns income by enjoying that quota reserved for locally registered airlines.

Whatever the merits of their arguments, the fact remains that of the estimated 5 million OFWs (including illegal) in the Middle East, there is a crying need for more flights that the government must address.

In Saudi Arabia alone, there are more than 2 million OFWs; Bahrain is home to 800,000; Abu Dhabi and Dubai to half a million; and the rest are shared by Doha, Jordan, Oman and Israel, according to Onie Nakpil, the chairman of the Airline Operators’ Council (AOC), and manager for Security of Gulf Air.

Business locators at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark have been vocal about accepting more flights to foreign carriers, but the Air Services Agreements (Asa), which requires a bilateral exchange of flights, renders this impossible at the moment.

The Civil Aeronautics Board (Cab), when asked to comment about the present problem, said it has allowed foreign carriers to fly out of the DMIA, but the quota remains underutilized because these carriers choose to concentrate in Manila, instead of Clark.

“We don’t have a problem with liberalization, but we are also compelled to protect our national interest,” said CAB lawyer Maria Elena Moro, chief of the Hearing Examiners’ Division and concurrent assistant director.

She added that the Cab has granted flying rights to several foreign carriers to fly out of Clark, “but most of these carriers are interested in Manila and not Clark or Subic.” It’s a situation that local carriers use to buttress their arguments that the foreign airlines are unfairly competing, eager only to grab more entitlements but not committed to fly where they’re needed. Moreover, they’re not willing to grant reciprocity.

Moro added that the Cab can’t compel any airline to fly where these foreign airlines don’t want to operate.

At the moment, she revealed that two local carriers, Trans Global Airways and Spirit of Manila, have pending applications to fly out of Clark direct to Bahrain.

Critics of the foreign air carriers said the Gulf airlines have focused on Manila to corner the huge OFW market, and, despite what they have promised before, failed to bring in foreign tourists as part of the bargain.

Nakpil denied allegations that their carriers are heavily dependent on the OFW market, saying that only a small percentage of their seats are allotted for them.

He clarified that majority, if not all, of the travel agents representing the OFWs have a quota set aside for “economy” tickets. The economy section is further subdivided into four “classes,” each class cheaper than the preceding ones.

“Naturally, the cheapest tickets are the ones easily sold and those OFWs who are unable to get them get the next expensive economy tickets until the whole economy classes are used up.”

Nakpil emphasized that the “real” economy tickets are more expensive, which the OFW can barely afford.

Reduced tickets to Hong Kong, for example, go as low as $100, but the “real” economy tickets cost as much as $600, he said.

Low-budget airlines offer rock-bottom prices, but do not provide the passengers of many amenities such as food, lounges and other perks that the high-paying customers enjoy.

The foreign carriers are forced to offer more expensive seats to reduce overhead because of the high operating cost entailed by flying out of the Naia, according to Nakpil, who traced this to the high cost of landing and takeoff fees, security tax and other so-called surcharges imposed on them.

Nakpil said the Gulf carriers have pending applications with the CAB to increase the current frequency from 70 to 140 flights a week, which the CAB is loath to grant unless a new ASA is put in place.

To avoid the sight of stranded OFWs every year, Nakpil said the AOC is proposing that CAB deregulate traffic rights, depending on the season.

“From November to June [holiday season and vacation time for OFWs], all air carriers can apply to mount extra flights without the need for approval from the local carriers,” Nakpil said.

He added that the stringent policy being observed by the CAB, and therefore, by the government, is the cause of the cessation of flights by 17 European airlines during the last 10 years.

“There is simply too much operational cost,” he said, forcing these European airlines to quit flying out of Manila.

At the moment, only KLM, the Dutch airlines, is left to bring Manila passengers to Europe.

Those that had quit during the last few years include Lufthansa, Air France, Sabena, Alitalia, British Airways and Swissair.

The AOC headman said that, at present, the government has failed to offer foreign carriers more incentives such as tax breaks or tax reliefs for them to carry OFWS in and out of the country.

That the country remains a laggard in Asia compared with our neighbors in increasing its tourist receipts is undeniable.

This is the reason why Clark businessmen, led by Rep. Carmelo Lazatin, had proposed to file Executive Order 500-B, a bill that would allow “pocket open-skies policy” for Clark, Subic and other airports that could be designated gateways to the Philippines.

He said that when the DMIA was opened in 1992, there were only five scheduled flights per week, but in 2006, the airport registered 17 scheduled flights per week and an additional 1,280 chartered flights by Korean carriers.

As a consequence, Lazatin said that when the Cab introduced a more liberalized policy, the DMIA increased passenger traffic by 860 percent from 2004 to 2006, with tourist arrivals increasing by more than 70 percent from 2005 to 2006.

“This year, the DMIA has already welcomed its 1 millionth passenger,” Lazatin said.

Last week the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) added to a rising chorus of voices, urging more flights into the country by allowing “pocket open skies” to draw in not only tourists but also investors.

Rob Sears, AmCham executive director, asked whether the country wants a policy that helps the country as a whole or just a particular company or a small group of companies.

The local carriers—Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Asian Spirit and Pacific East Asia Cargo—have opposed EO 500-B or pocket open skies because it does not demand reciprocity from the countries whose carriers want unlimited freedom to fly to that region.

Jaime Bautista, Pal president and COO, said that the national flag carrier supports an open-skies policy that is “fair, equitable and reciprocal,” which E0 500-B does not ensure.

Some aviation sector, who wanted not to engage Bautista, had proposed instead that the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and other related agencies to mount charter flights every year to accommodate the planeloads of OFWS wanting to go on vacation to their home country and still be assured of a flight back to their work, when their vacation had been fulfilled. 

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WHEN Rexz Maranan came home from London via the Middle East to bury his 80-year-old mother in January, he expected to be away from his work for about two weeks before returning to his job at the Heathrow Airport as a security officer. 

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