MANILA, Philippine - The civil aviation agency defended on Tuesday the safety standards of the country's carriers after the European Union imposed a ban on local airlines flying to European destinations.

The European ban on Philippine carriers followed a downgrading by the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to category 2 from category 1 on safety ratings last November.

"Even if the Philippines is listed by the EU, it does not mean that Philippine aircraft are unsafe," Alfonso Cusi, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), said in a statement.

"Our aircraft meet the international standards in safety. It's a matter of adopting the internationally accepted audit procedures."

Cusi said he had invited members of the EU safety aviation commission for another inspection this May to show the problems raised had been corrected.

The agency has started hiring 47 aviation safety experts, improved surveillance and inspection of air operators and will ground small domestic air operations if not certified by December 2010, he said.

Cusi assumed the post only in March 10, 2010. "The task is daunting but I am confident we will surpass the challenges that the CAAP is now facing,” Cusi stressed.

Air service agreements

The only airline registered and flying in and out of EU was Philippine Airlines (PAL). Their last operational flight to the region was in 1999, when PAL was facing financial troubles.

The country's oldest airline has been eyeing the long-haul routes to further boost its bottomline as the local airline industry becomes more crowded with players focused on domestic and Asean routes.

In the past months, more wide-bodied aircrafts meant for long haul routes that PAL has previously ordered have been arriving. These Boeing 777-300 Extended Range fleet were originally intended to increase number of flights to the US. These plans had to be shelved due to the FAA rating of the country's aviation regulator.

Meantime, PAL has been keen on mounting flights to Europe as the government arm in-charge of beefing up bilateral air service agreements with various countries concluded air talks with European countries, including the United Kingdom.

The EU ban means these newly inked air service agreements--which are designed to mutually benefit commercial airlines from both the Philippines and the other country in the agreement--will be useless until the EU lifts the ban. - with a report from Reuters