www.arabnews.comA new Philippine-registered airline, Tair Airlines, which is 40 percent owned by a Saudi businessman, is scheduled to launch its inaugural flight to Riyadh and Jeddah from the Philippines in mid-January. It will be stepping in to fill the gap in the market left by Philippine Airlines when it stopped flying to Riyadh in March of this year.
“We will be flying four times a week from Clark International Airport in Pampanga to both Riyadh and Jeddah and will be offering competitive airfares,†said Saudi businessman Fawzi Ali Bundugji in a phone interview from Manila. “We are thinking of buying some used 747s to use on the route, and are currently in talks to lease at least two to four Jumbo Jets to begin with,†he explained.
The Philippine Civil Aeronautics Board confirmed yesterday in a phone interview from Manila that Tair Airlines had been given a license to operate the route.
“They’ve been given a temporary operating permit, which means they can operate for three months as a nonscheduled international airline,†said Cristina Talara of CAB’s Air Operating Rights Division.
“Everything is ready: Our maintenance crew, pilots and flight attendants,†said Bundugji, adding, “We started training our crew two months ago.â€
Bundugji said that the Philippine travel agency Warner Barnes Travel Inc., in which he is also an investor, owns the other 60 percent of the new airline. “I’ve been involved in the travel business in the Philippines for the past 26 years, and Warner Barnes has been operating for more than 40 years,†explained the businessman.
The new airline has asked permission from the Kingdom to fly a triangular route which would allow it to fly into the country, land in Riyadh, fly on to Jeddah and then exit the country from there. “We hope to get permission to fly in such a fashion as this would mean we would have to fly one fewer leg than if we had to fly in and out of Riyadh,†said Bundugji.
Philippine Airlines stopped flying to the Kingdom and other Gulf destinations in March of this year, citing mounting fuel costs and stiff competition from Gulf airlines. PAL claimed that it was losing $10 million a month on its Riyadh route alone.
With nearly one million Filipinos living in the Kingdom, overseas Filipino workers strongly protested the end of PAL flights to the Kingdom, but since PAL was privatized a few years ago the Philippine government was powerless in influencing the airline’s decision.
Tair Airlines said they are aiming at tapping into the OFW market here, saying that the bulk of Filipinos working in the Kingdom come from northern Luzon where Clark Airport is located. “I’m trying to get other Saudis to invest in the airline, but as you know too many of them are busy investing in the stock market,†said Bundugji.
“I for one will definitely want to try Tair Airlines,†said 32-year-old Marvin dela Cruz, who works as a designer in Jeddah. “Clark is much closer to my home in Nueva Ecija than Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.†|