China Airlines (CAL) has temporarily suspended its Kaohsiung-Manila flights after Philippine officials failed to ratify elements of an interim extension to a disputed 1996 air services agreement.
CAL spokesman Charles Chen says from Taipei that the carrier's daily Boeing 737-800 service to Manila from Kaohsiung has been "temporarily suspended" after the Philippine Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) refused to ratify certain terms affecting the flights by an interim 20 February deadline.
He says the carrier is hoping to resume the flights quickly, however, following renewed talks on Monday between Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and the CAB.
The Philippines and Taiwan ended a three-month air services dispute on 28 January upon the signing of an "interim agreement" extending the terms of the 1996 air accord.
Allowed
The dispute flared up last year when the CAB unilaterally cancelled the accord, accusing CAL and EVA Airways of violating the agreement's terms by carrying more passengers into and out of the Philippines than allowed.
Manila also claimed that the Taiwanese airlines were carrying passengers to the USA from the Philippines via Taiwan.
Source: Flight Daily News
