Singapore, the Philippines sign bilateral air transport agreement

Deal gives access to Singapore carriers to fly 14 more weekly services to and from Manila.

Following a two-day air services consultation that ended on 13 May 2010, Singapore and the Philippines agreed to further expand the bilateral air services agreement between both countries, according to a Ministry of Transport report.

Under the expanded bilateral air services agreement, Singapore carriers will be able to fly up to another 14 weekly services to and from Manila. The same entitlements are accorded to Philippine carriers. In addition, carriers of both countries will have greater access to and from other Philippine cities.

Mr Lee Yuen Hee, Deputy Secretary (International) for Ministry of Transport, who led the Singapore delegation said, "Air traffic between Singapore and the Philippines has seen healthy growth particularly in the past year, since the bilateral air services agreement was last revised in 2009. The expanded agreement therefore comes at an opportune time when economies in ASEAN and the Asia Pacific region look forward to robust growth as the world emerges from recession. With increased air services, carriers of both countries are now well-positioned to tap on the expected increase in travel demand in the region. We fully expect to see as an outcome, greater tourism growth as well as a further boost in trade and investments for both Singapore and the Philippines."

In 2009, Singapore-Philippine passenger traffic grew by 10%, despite a difficult year which saw a sharp drop in demand for passenger travel and cargo shipments due to the global recession.

To date, Singapore Airlines operates 28 weekly services to Manila while Jetstar Asia operates 10 weekly services there. Tiger Airways currently operates 9 weekly services to Clark. SilkAir also operates a total of 7 weekly flights to the Philippine cities of Cebu and Davao.