A shortage of seats in airlines flying from Manila to Middle East destinations has been causing misery to thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), aviation authorities in the Philippines said Saturday. The officials said the OFWs have become the unwitting victims in the raging dispute between Middle East airlines and Philippine authorities. Six Middle Eastern airlines are currently serving the Manila to Middle East routes. They are Gulf Air, Saudia, Etihad, Qatar, Kuwait Airways, and Emirates. Philippine officials said these airlines have been swamped by the huge number of OFWs returning to their country or to their Middle East work sites. “This (huge volume of OFW passengers) is a seasonal occurrence that happens starting at the beginning of every year and well into the middle of the year,” according to the executive from the Airline Operators Council. There are an estimated 2 million OFWs in Saudi Arabia alone, and at least a million more in other nearby countries. The source said the Middle East carriers have asked the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to allow them to increase their flights from the current 50 a week. But their petition has been buried in the legal disputes between them and the CAB, the source said. Compounding the problem, the Philippine Airlines (PAL) suspended flights to the Middle East about 10 years ago because of alleged unfair price dumping by its Middle East competitors. “PAL stopped flying to the Middle East in 1998 because it could not match the lower fares offered by competitors, who are heavily subsidized by their governments,” said Rolly Estabillo, PAL vice president for corporate communications. __
