The Philippine air panel is arranging a number of meetings with representatives of various countries in the Middle East and Europe in hopes to forge more air transport agreements.

For one, a two-day discussion between the Philippines and Qatar has been set for January 14 and 15 at the office of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), according to CAB deputy executive director Porvenir Porciuncula.
 
"We already have an existing air agreement with Qatar but Qatar would want to have more flights to the Philippines. Qatar recently promised to provide jobs to Filipinos," he said in a telephone interview.

There are 11 flight frequencies per week allowed under the existing air services agreement between Qatar and Manila, and the former have yet to present a proposal for amendments to the agreement, Porciuncula said.
 
He noted, however, that local carriers were not too keen on this idea. "While Qatar wants more access, our carriers do not want to even launch flights anywhere in the Middle East because of very stiff market competition. Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific do not have immediate plans to mount flights there. Instead, they want to deploy their new planes in lucrative routes," he explained.
 
Spirit of Manila is the only local airline mounting flights to the Middle East from the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in the Clark Special Economic Zone. "They will surely ask for entitlements," said Porciuncula.
 
After Qatar, the Philippine air panel is scheduled to meet with its counterpart in the United Arab of Emirates by the end of the month. To follow are discussions with Kuwait and Brunei by February and March, respectively.
"The impending air talks are mostly focused on middle eastern countries because these were the countries which have not been part of last year's discussions. We want to reach the countries where we have no presence yet," Porciuncula said.
 
The Philippine air panel is composed of officials from the Department of Transportation and Communications, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Tourism, Department of Trade and Industry, CAB, and representatives from airline companies.
 
By the second or third quarter, the Philippines will engage in air talks with European countries, particularly Turkey, then probably with Peru in the US.

In 2007, the country's air panel clinched agreements with Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Macau, Canada, Finland, Cambodia, Iran and Netherlands.