Deadlock

The tussle for the lucrative Philippines-Middle East market

It is what you might call a Mexican standoff, except in reality it was a confrontation in Cebu, the Philippines major holiday island. Air rights negotiators from the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates went toe-to-toe there late April to thrash out a new agreement that was expected to give the big Middle East carriers Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways even more capacity than they already have into the Philippines. The high flyers from Dubai and Abu Dhabi wanted more flights into Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). The Philippines wanted them to launch direct services for the first time into the tourist destination of Davao.

In the end, it all came to naught. “The talks ended in a deadlock,” said Philippines Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) executive director Carmelo Arcilla. “No agreement was signed. The parties were close to agreeing to some exchanges, including the commitment of Emirates to operate to Davao, but the details could not be resolved as of yet.”