Europe open to air
safety pact with PHL – VP Binay
By OVP Media
November 1, 2012
MANILA – Europe
is interested in developing an air safety agreement with the
Philippines once the European Union (EU) ban on Philippine air
carriers is lifted, Vice President Jejomar C. Binay said.
Fresh from a 15-day visit to
Belgium, Luxemburg, the Vatican, and Israel, the Vice President said
he had a chance to meet with European Commission (EC) Vice President
and Commissioner for Transport Siik Kallas during the 7th European
Development Days (EDD) in Brussels to discuss the current EU ban on
Philippine air carriers.
Binay said that according to
Kallas, EU’s main issue with the Philippines was “maintaining the
professionalism and regularity of air safety inspections.”
“I informed the commissioner
that the Philippines had sought technical assistance from the French
government to improve air safety standards, and that Philippine
Airlines, which is now under new management, had just ordered 54
Airbus aircraft in line with its re-fleeting program,” Binay said.
The Vice President added
that he assured the commissioner that the government was taking the
air carrier ban issue very seriously and was already in the process of
instituting critical reforms to improve the country’s air safety
standards.
“I even mentioned the fact
that the Philippines would be receiving an ICAO (International Civil
Aviation Organization)-Coordinated Validation Mission on October 24 to
28 to assess the improvements made thus far,” he said.
Binay also clarified that
the ban applied to both EU and non-EU carriers.
“The commissioner said these
bans were not meant to discriminate against non-EU carriers since
European carriers were not immune from the same bans if they failed to
meet the EU’s strict air safety standards,” the Vice President said.
The EC banned Philippine
carriers from operating in all 27 member-states of the EU in 2010.
According to Philippine
Airlines, the ban was caused by the United States Federal Aviation
Administration’s (FAA) decision in January 2008 downgrading the
Philippines’ safety rating to Category 2 and “significant safety
concern” findings by the ICAO in November 2009 against Philippine
aviation safety regulators.
There has been no commercial
flight by Philippine-registered carriers to Europe since 1999.