PAL and Cebu Pacific Get Rights to Israel, Reduce Bangkok Flights

The fourteen weekly flight entitlements granted after the successful round of air talks between the Philippines and Israel have been divided equally between Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific. 

pal express a330
Copyright Photo: Angelo Agcamaran/PPSG
According to Carmelo Arcilla, Executive Director of the Civil Aeronautics Board, both Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines will each receive seven flight entitlements to Israel permitting each carrier to mount a daily flight.

"Pending the formal resolution on this, we allocated seven to PAL and another seven to Cebu Pacific during our board meeting," said Arcilla. Both carriers had applied to the Civil Aeronautics Board to be designated as the official Philippine carrier to Israel. Cebu Pacific requested seven flight entitlements while Philippine Airlines requested fourteen entitlements.

Following the successful negotiation of the new air services agreement, designated airlines from both the Philippines and Israel have been permitted to operate up to a combined total of 21 flights per week from any point in Israel to any point in the Philippines.

Fifth freedom rights that enable an airline to fly between two countries and pick up passengers in a third country were also granted with Mumbai, India being identified as an intermediate point and Madrid, Spain as a point beyond. This enables a carrier like Philippine Airlines to operate a flight to Israel with a stop in Mumbai where it can unload and pick up passengers.

Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines have both announced flight cuts to Bangkok in the midst of political tensions in the Thai capital. Cebu Pacific is temporarily reducing flights between Manila and Bangkok down to nine per week from the existing twelve, while Philippine Airlines is reducing its number of weekly frequencies to Bangkok from fourteen down to eleven. Bangkok is a high density market for Philippine Airlines.

In a statement released to the public, Cebu Pacific advised that passengers affected by the cuts may re-book flights within 30 days or request a full refund. "Cebu Pacific's flights to and from Bangkok, Thailand continue to operate as scheduled, as the Suvarnabhumi Airport remains operational at this time," said officials from Cebu Pacific. "We are closely monitoring developments and will provide flight updates as needed." Philippine Airlines will also waive rebooking fees for its passengers affected by the service disruptions.

12 comments:

  1. With few Filipinos in Israel and almost no Israelis in the Philippines, this does not look to be a very promising venture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But that's no it. Philippine Airlines will fly Israel via Mumbai, India and Madrid, Spain and/or Rome, Italy via Israel.

      Delete
    2. I don't think so. There a number of Israeli tourist here in PH. They usually fly via KE. And there are a lot of Pinoy pilgrims going to TLV too plus there's an intermediate point from BOM and MAD so that would be promising.

      Delete
  2. The advantage of a fast non-stop flight from Europe to the Philippines will be gone if PAL implements these flights with a stop at TLV.
    There would be no significant advantage compared to the Gulf carriers.
    Thus PAL should offer non-stop flights if it aims to compete in the Europe - Philippines market.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pilgrims of the 3 major faiths have undoubtedly been waiting for this! Such great news!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, Pinoy Pilgrims uses Emirates Airlines which is too expensive. CebuPac/PAL will be a great alternative with low cost/budget fare. This will encourage Pinoys to see the Holy Land. Hopefully this materializes before the second hald of 2014.

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. As the Philippines is a distinctively catholic country there are many Filipinos who would like to visit Israel. It is strange why Cebu Pacific gave preference to Middle East countries without religious freedom.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cebu Pacific is one of the comportable airlines in philippines. It can serve the best of their work to make the passenger happy. So try it with your family and have a wonderful flight.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cebu Pac is one of the trustworted and comfortable airlines in the Philippines. It is not that expensive like other airlines. But if they really compete with other airlines, they should know how their passengers should satisfy their needs.

    ReplyDelete
  8. cebu pacific is a wonderful flight to enjoy with your family.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The best boxing sites though offer everything you need to know about the sport all in one place. You'll get a full dose of pound for pound rankings, weight class rankings, an upcoming fight schedule, fighter profiles, interviews, fight and event previews, predictions, results, rumors, photos and much more. שגיב קורן

    ReplyDelete

Powered by Blogger.