AN “Open Skies” regime will bring huge losses to local airlines, a foreign affairs official has warned.

Lawyer Francisco Noel Fernandez III, based at the Department of Foreign Affairs’ London office, said domestic airlines may find themselves suffering huge losses if moves to place the country’s civil aviation under an open skies regime push through.

“[Open skies] would force local carriers to fold up because they don’t have deep pockets necessary to survive in a highly competitive civil aviation sector,” he said.

Fernandez presented his position in his paper “Progressive Liberalization in the Aviation Sector to Sustain National Development” including his stand on the issue.

The paper also sought to “revisit the framework of a progressive liberalization strategy adopted by the Philippines and to support its approach as being consistent with the country’s national interest.”

Foreign business groups, advocating open skies, have urged President Arroyo to issue an executive order that defines rules on traffic rights in Clark as well as in Subic International Airport.

There is already a draft order, EO 500-B, that will allow the easier entry of airline services, especially the budget carriers. The draft order reverses EO 500-A that practically rescinded the “open skies” policy spelled out in EO 500 issued January 2006.

“An open skies regime advocated by certain sectors in Philippine society would be acceptable under a gradual and progressive implementation scheme. To agree to an immediate open-sky regime would sound the death toll on the local aviation carriers who are ill-equipped to compete head-on with regional and international giants in the civil aviation sector,” Fernandez said.

Trade and tourism can be developed to their fullest potential through a gradual granting of air seats to foreign carriers, on routes where there is actual demand.

Fernandez said the liberalization of the aviation industry, though consistent with the economic provisions of the Constitution, should not be interpreted as authorizing the unrestricted opening of the sector to foreign carriers.

Liberalizing air services at the Diosdado Macapagal and Subic international airports, he said, would violate the Constitution, which mandates that the country should have a self-reliant and independent economy.

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AN “Open Skies” regime will bring huge losses to local airlines, a foreign affairs official has warned.