Qantas applies for more Philippines rights

Jetstar could be off to Manila. (Waynne Williams)

Qantas has lodged an application with the International Air Services Commission (IASC) for an increase to its allocation on the Philippines route to allow its Jetstar subsidiary to start services between Darwin and Manila.

The airline is seeking an additional 531 seats per week on the Philippines route for five years, with the capacity to be fully utilised by October 31 2011. That would allow Jetstar to operate three times weekly services between Darwin and Manila utilising its 177-seat Airbus A320s.

Qantas has also made application to renew determinations on a number of routes, including the Indonesia, France Route 3 (New Caledonia), South Africa, Thailand and Vanuatu routes. The application also calls for the revocation of its allocations on the Vietnam route as the Qantas Group has “no immediate plans to operate direct services between Australia’s gateway points and Vietnam.” Jetstar currently operates four times weekly services from Darwin to Ho Chi Minh City, which has no restrictions as it is not a gateway port.