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PHILIPPINES WANTS AIR TALKS WITH US

MANILA - The Philippines wants to reopen talks with the US over a 21-year-old pact on air liberalization that it says unfairly favors US airlines, reports Reuters.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has told her transport, tourism and foreign affairs ministers to push for a new round of talks between US and Philippine officials.

US airlines can fly to anywhere in the Philippines as often as they want but Philippine airlines can only fly to nine US cities, under a 21-year-old deal that only came into force this month after repeated delays, according to Philippine officials.

The Philippines economy, which has grown 3% to 4% annually since 2000, needs higher tourist traffic and foreign investment to keep pace with its faster growing neighbors, they said.

The current air rights deal was forged by the late Ferdinand Marcos in 1982 when the country only had two international airports able to accept wide-bodied aircraft. It now has eight.

FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Services, the world's two largest package carriers, operate Asia hubs in former US military bases Clark and Subic, north of Manila.

But FedEx recently said it was considering moving its Asia Pacific express hub from the Philippines to Guangzhou to take advantage of the bigger China parcel market.

Only Philippines Airlines - known as PAL - flys to the US at present, but other Philippine carriers have said they're crafting plans to expand their service to the US in anticipation of a new deal.

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