South Korea and the Philippines have agreed to expand international air services between the two countries.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) finalized on July 4 allows for an increase in capacity between Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) and Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN) to 30,000 weekly seats. Previously, airlines could operate up to 20,000 weekly seats on routes from Manila to South Korea.
Limits on flights from Manila to other points in South Korea have meanwhile been removed.
The updated arrangement liberalizes third and fourth freedoms, allowing more passenger traffic between the capital cities and increasing overall connectivity. Additionally, flights from points outside Manila to all points in South Korea remaining unrestricted should enhance regional connectivity and benefit local economies in both countries.
South Korea is the Philippines’ main source of international visitors, with incoming Korean tourists reaching 1.4 million in 2023. According to the Philippine Department of Tourism, there had already been more than 680,000 arrivals from South Korea this year by May 2024, accounting for around one in four foreign tourists arriving to the Philippines.
This latest MOU replaces a previous agreement signed in 2017.
Additionally, the Philippine government has proposed an amendment to allow airlines designated by the Philippines to operate based on having their principal place of business in the country. Although no agreement was reached, both parties agreed to revisit the issue in future discussions. They also plan to discuss South Korea’s proposal to permit third-country codesharing arrangements.
Jeju Air is the largest provider of capacity between South Korea and the Philippines at present, OAG Schedules Analyser figures show, accounting for a 20.4% share of all seats. Korean Air has a 14.9% share, followed by Philippine Airlines on 13.9%. Asiana Airlines (12.5%) and Jin Air (9.7%) complete the top five.
Analysis of the data reveals that there are 11 nonstop routes currently operating in the market—five of which are from ICN to Cebu, Clark, Kalibo, Manila and Tagbilaran. Alongside ICN, MNL is connected to two other points in South Korea through services from Busan and Cheongju.
The latest liberalization steps should help boost overall capacity between South Korea and the Philippines, which is yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels. There are 452,517 available seats between the nations for July 2024, compared with 553,300 at this time in 2019.
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