MANILA — There may soon be direct flights between Manila and Paris and possibly, Manila and India.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista announced there will be a direct flight between Manila and Paris this year as Philippines and France expand ties in the aviation sector. 

While Philippine Airlines President Stanley Ng said that India is something they are considering, but there are no final plans yet.

At the Aviation Forum organized by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines, Bautista said the Paris flight, which signals the return of direct flights to Europe, is good for the country’s tourism sector.

Bautista recently witnessed the signing of an agreement to expand a technical cooperation agreement on aviation safety between the Philippines and France. The said agreement will help the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines reinforce its oversight functions to meet the growing demand for aviation.

“This enhancement in Philippine-France bilateral relations will run parallel with the exciting launch of direct flights between Manila and Paris before yearend,” Bautista said.

A presentation of the Tourism Undersecretary Verna Buensuceso showed that the Paris to Manila flight will be via Air France and will be a 3-4x weekly flight starting December.

PAL’s Ng also said at the Aviation Forum that they may also return to Europe soon and add India to its routes. However these plans will not be in the near future, and will also depend on the availability of aircraft.

“The growth in India is quite interesting. We’re also looking into that. And maybe a destination in Europe… [Question: Paris?] At the moment, we don’t have the capacity to do that, so we’re still waiting for the airplanes to come in, more studies,” said Ng during a panel discussion.

But what is certain is that many airlines will launch flights to and from the Philippines in the last quarter of the year. PAL will launch direct flights to Seattle in October, while AirAsia will fly Manila to Nagoya also in October. United Airlines will launch the San Francisco-Narita-Cebu route, while Qantas will launch Manila-Brisbane.

Cebu Pacific will launch Manila to Chiang Mai as well as international flights from its provincial hubs. Cebu Pacific President Xander Lao said, “ Connecting more points in the Philippines to our existing international network… Iloilo-Singapore, Iloilo-Hong Kong, Davao to Don Mueang and even Davao to Hong Kong.”

AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla also bared plans for next year. He said, “We’re looking at Malaysia, Penang and also we’ll open Cambodia, Phnom Penh… We’re exploring Okinawa as our fourth Japan city and finally we’re also looking at Vietnam.”

All these new flights will begin as local airlines also reduce its flights to China due to low demand. Cebu Pacific earlier mentioned it has significantly cut the number of flights to mainland China this fourth quarter, while AirAsia PH will have no more flights to China this quarter.