MANILA: Flag carrier Philippine Airlines said Friday it will pay the government six billion pesos (SR441.6 million) after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to cut off its access to Manila airport over alleged unpaid landing and other fees.
Duterte had given the airline a Friday deadline to pay arrears.
“The (Department of Transportation) has accepted the offer of PAL to pay in full the six billion-peso claims of the (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines/Manila International Airport Authority,” a joint statement said.
“One of the overriding reasons why PAL agreed to settle is to manifest its trust and confidence in President Duterte’s administration,” the statement said.
The airline also committed to “keep all transactions updated and current” with the aviation and airport authorities, it added.
On September 26 Duterte said he had told PAL chairman and billionaire Lucio Tan: “You are using government buildings, airport, you have back debts for the use of the runway that you have not paid.
“I said, ‘You solve the problem yourself. I will give you 10 days. Pay it. If not I will close it down. No more airport’.”
Previously state-owned PAL was sold off in 1992, and the government said the fees were waived when the airline was government-owned.
Despite an increase in low-cost competitors, PAL still has the largest fleet in the Philippines and is the only local carrier to fly to North America and Europe.
In June it said it planned to increase its fleet serving smaller islands in the archipelagic nation.
PAL’s parent company, PAL Holdings, suffered a net loss of 501 million pesos for the three months to June due to higher fuel costs and aircraft lease charges.
Philippine flag carrier agrees to pay $117 million aviation fees
Philippine flag carrier agrees to pay $117 million aviation fees
Existing world order would only disappear through a ‘major war,’ says Aboul Gheit
- Arab League secretary-general calls on member states to preserve it through ‘positive work’
- Aboul Gheit tells WGS that Arab League has so far been successful in maintaining its ‘cohesion and its role on the international stage’ despite tough challenges
DUBAI: The Arab League’s secretary-general warned Tuesday that despite significant developments in the international arena, these “do not change the existing international world order’s essence,” which would only disappear through “a major war.”
Ahmed Aboul Gheit stressed the need to preserve the League through positive action, given the external forces seeking to dismantle the Arab system and replace it with either a regional one entirely subject to international influence or one controlled by non-Arab regional powers.
“I would like to call on all AL’s member states to preserve the League, through the biggest form of positive work,” he told a crowded hall during his address at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
Aboul Gheit stated that the Arab League has so far been successful in maintaining its “cohesion and its role on the international stage,” despite the challenges it has faced since 2011.
Addressing a session moderated by Imad Eldin Adeeb, political analyst at Sky News Arabia, the AL’s secretary-general said, “I will return the League to the Arab states intact, unbroken, and which is in itself a great success,” noting that the League has continued to be active and represented on the world stage in various forums, despite multifaceted regional and international circumstances.
He emphasized that preserving the Arab League is a “strategic necessity for protecting Arab interests” and safeguarding independent Arab decision-making amid the rapidly changing international landscape.
On Gaza, he explained that the Arab League had exerted considerable efforts and fully exercised its role in relation to the actions and decisions of Arab states.
“If I were to convene a closed meeting with Arab leaders to offer advice regarding the remaining days of Trump’s presidency, I would advise action and engagement that preserves sovereignty and dignity. This means engaging where we can and postponing and maneuvering where we cannot accept,” said Aboul Gheit.
Speaking on the League’s role in ongoing conflicts in the Arab world, Adeeb asked: “Where is the Arab League’s role? I haven’t seen, for example, the League intervene and play a mediating role. I haven’t seen the League attempt to take a position related to inter-Arab conflicts. I haven’t seen the League try to stop the ongoing bloodshed in Arab conflicts.”
Aboul-Gheit replied that the League addresses all these “conflicts and wounds” through periodic meetings of foreign ministers or summits, issuing resolutions that are always agreed upon after the necessary deliberation.
The real problem, he said, lies in the will of the countries involved in the conflict.
“The Arab League is always constrained in this regard. In other words, any government in a country facing a crisis always rejects direct mediation and has its own perspective. Therefore, given the current circumstances, with foreign interventions, internal situations, and relations between Arab states, it is always preferable for us (the Arab League) to leave the lead to the United Nations — that is, for it to take the initiative while the League operates within that framework,” the secretary-general emphasized.
