The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said the Philippines plans to hold air talks with four major tourism markets within the year to boost visitor arrivals and expand flight connectivity.
Carmelo Arcilla, executive director of CAB, said the Philippines requested bilateral air talks with Japan, India, Thailand and probably the US.
“We hope it will happen this year,” he said.
The Philippine Air Services Negotiating Panel is composed of officials from the CAB, Department of Tourism, Departments of Transportation, and of Foreign Affairs, as well as from the Clark International Airport Corp and representatives of local airline companies.
Capt. Chester Voo, Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer (Airline Operations) of AirAsia Aviation Group said that Air Asia Philippines is exploring the possibility to fly between Manila and India.
“There’s 1.4 billion people in India. The Indian [travelers] are really driving [global] tourism,” Voo said.
“India is a great market … What Air Asia can do is we will market the Philippine tourism to benefit the people of the Philippines and the economy,” he added.
According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), the number of Indian visitors to the Philippines stood at 29,456 in the first quarter of the year, lower by 2.08 percent compared to the same period last year.
DOT also said that visitors from US reached 331,049 percent up 8.99 percent compared to last year, while Japan visitors stood at 132,500, higher by 18.14 percent compared to last year.
Thailand visitors to the Philippines reached 15,578 in the first quarter of 2025, down by 0.33 percent compared to last year.
Arcilla added that t the Philippines is requesting the Australian government to increase flight entitlements to 60,000 seats per week from the current 30,000 seats per week.
He said that the government requested air talks with Australia to allow local airlines to expand and meet the growing demand for travel between the two countries.
At present, the Cebu Pacific flies from Manila to Melbourne and Sydney, while Philippine Airlines (PAL) flies from Manila to Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.
According to the DOT, the number of Australian visitors to the Philippines rose to 93,030 in the first three months of the year, marking a 19.44-percent increase from the same period last year. Darwin G. Amojelar
