Australia and the Philippines have signed a new air services agreement, increasing by 60 percent the number of seats on weekly flights between the two countries.
News reports say carriers from both countries can now offer up to 4,000 seats each way per week between Australian cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane, and the Philippine cities of Manila and Clark. This capacity upgrade may be further increased to 6,000 per week, depending on demand.
The old limit was 2,500 seats per week.
Meanwhile, both countries’ carriers are also allowed to operate unlimited services to regional airports.
More than 300,000 travellers flew between Australia and the Philippines in 2008, making Australia one of the top five sources of tourists in the Philippines.
Joshua Tan