EXECUTIVES of Emirates Airlines, a Gulf carrier that used to fly three times daily from Dubai to Manila, said lack of seat capacity between these cities partially thwarted the government’s tourism thrust for 2015.
Its twice-daily Manila-Dubai flights have been operating at 100-percent capacity since the airline lost its third service early this year, a statement said.
“This represents a significant gap between short supply and huge demand for seats,” the Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based airline’s statement said.
Emirates’s third daily flight was suspended, after Philippine Airlines (PAL) refused to renew its code-share agreement with the Middle Eastern aviation company.
Nonetheless, Emirates said customer demand on the Dubai-Manila route remains extremely high throughout the year.
“The factors that contribute to this include the large number of OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] who work in the UAE, and the increasing number of tourists to the Philippines, which is a result of the Philippine government’s ‘Visit the Philippines Year’ declaration for 2015,” Emirates said.
Basically, the tourism initiative aims to attract more high-value foreign tourists to the country.
“But, with limited seats for OFWs alone, there is no capacity available for tourists who want to visit the Philippines,” the airline said.
Emirates added that the Philippines stands to lose great potential from Arab tourists, who are identified as high spenders who patronize high-end hotels and stay in the country for eight to 10 days on average.
“The current scarcity of seats, combined with reduced nonstop travel options, has, unfortunately, become a barrier to Philippine tourism,” Emirates stressed.
With increased seat demand from OFWs—now at about 850,000—and international tourists, Emirates said it is also witnessing an increased demand for more direct flights.
Regions like the Middle East, Africa, South America and many parts of Europe are significantly underserved to and from the Philippines, the carrier added.
“This limitation is a major impediment to attracting more business and leisure visitors to the Philippines,” the airline noted. “Travel options for millions of Filipinos residing overseas are also limited. Emirates’s extensive network from Dubai provides the solution to this problem.”
But the reduction of Emirates’s flights between Manila and Dubai has not only affected the tourism efforts of the government, it also had a negative effect on local exports.
“Emirates’s cargo capacity has been reduced by 18,000 kilograms on the Manila-Dubai route every day. With this acute shortage in cargo capacity, cost for cargo transportation has also escalated. This combination of reduced air-cargo capacity and higher rates could negatively impact Philippine exports, which is detrimental to the efforts Emirates and the Philippine government have worked for in the last 25 years,” it said.
All these led to the Gulf carrier’s petition for the restoration of its third daily service, an initiative that local carriers opposed to protect the local market.
“With all this taken into consideration, the restoration of Emirates’s third daily flight is essential to preventing serious negative disruptions to OFWs, tourists and exporters via a dramatic drop in seats and cargo space,” Emirates said.
Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo L. Arcilla said the Philippine air panel will meet on July 6 to deliberate the possibility of negotiating for more traffic rights with the Middle East. It will also hear the sides of PAL and Cebu Pacific, which both oppose the negotiations.
“It is unfair for the Philippine government to capitulate to a foreign carrier, when, in fact, the UAE authorities never prioritized the Philippine carriers when the Dubai International Airport was closed for repairs, with both PAL and Cebu Pacific being thrown to farther airports, while Emirates kept on operating in their home base,” the carriers earlier said in a joint statement.
Under the air-services agreement between the Philippines and the UAE, each nation is given the privilege to operate 28 flights per week between Manila and the states under the Arabian bloc.
The entitlements of the Philippines are held by PAL with 14, its sister carrier PAL Express with seven and Cebu Pacific with seven.
Gulf carriers Emirates and Etihad Airways equally share the coefficients of the UAE.