PHILIPPINE STARTUP BICOL EYES SCHEDULED SERVICES WITH FOKKER 50S
Philippines : Philippine travel agency, Southwest Air Marketing Tours and Promotions, is seeking an air operator certificate (AOC) for its Bicol Air Express unit to expand into scheduled services with a fleet of Fokker 50s.
Bicol currently provides some ad hoc charter flights using a BAE 146 and a Dornier 328 it charters from other operators, but the airline now plans to obtain its own AOC so it can operate scheduled and non-scheduled services, the airline’s president Ramon Torres tells Aviation Week.
According to Torres, Bicol already has a business license from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and has completed almost all the paperwork for its AOC. Responsibility for issuing AOCs rests with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
Torres, who is a former Philippine Airlines Fokker 50 pilot, says Bicol plans to dry-lease Fokker 50s. He will not say which lessor will provide the aircraft, as the airline has yet to sign any lease deal, but adds that Bicol has been speaking to maintenance, repair and overhaul service provider Fokker Services Asia in Singapore.
There is an opportunity for an airline that can provide point-to-point services between the Philippines’ many tourist destinations, says Torres. “There are many larger domestic airlines in the Philippines that don’t fly to the final tourist destinations,” he says.
He adds that even when these larger carriers serve tourist destinations, the flights are usually routed through Manila or Cebu, which is an inconvenience for travelers. The larger carriers are often unable to serve the tourist destinations with their narrowbody fleets as these are usually remote places, with small unpaved air strips.
18/08/2012 : Leithen Francis / Aviation Daily
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