Cebu Pacific Air (5J, Manila Ninoy Aquino International) has successfully contested Philippine Airlines' proposed extension of its codeshare agreement with Emirates (EK, Dubai International). The Malaya Business Insight newswire states the Civil Aeronautics Board of the Philippines (CAB) agreed with Cebu's objection that Philippine Airlines (PR, Manila Ninoy Aquino International) had not used the 21 weekly frequencies allocated it under the terms of the Philippines' air service agreement with the United Arab Emirates. Having suspended its own flights to Dubai in 1998, it had allocated them to Emirates, a foreign carrier.
“What we actually sought was for the CAB to disallow the extension of a code share agreement between PAL and Emirates. Said agreement involves frequencies between Manila and Dubai that are meant for operation by Philippine carriers, and yet are currently being operated by Emirates,” Jorenz Tañada, Cebu Air Vice President Corporate Affairs, said.
The CAB's chief legal officer, Wyrlou Samodio, said the regulator is considering reallocating PAL's Dubai traffic rights to another local carrier should the need arise.
“If there’s a Philippine carrier willing to operate those entitlements (physically) it will be given to them,” he said.
At present, only two Filipino carriers ply services to Dubai - Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines' sister carrier, PAL Express (2P, Manila Ninoy Aquino International) - alongside Emirates.
