Australian civil aviation officials have signed an agreement with their Philippines counterparts to expand passenger air services between the two countries.

The new arrangements allow for passenger flight capacity to increase immediately from 35 to 60 services per week, then to 70 per week from late 2026.

They also allow for:

  • The expansion of traffic rights for dedicated cargo services – allowing traffic rights at two intermediate and two beyond points (provided those points are not in Singapore, the United States, Canada or China).
  • The expansion of codeshare opportunities for airlines of both countries – allowing marketing airlines to operate fifth freedom traffic rights at any two points with capacity expanded to two daily frequencies each way each week.
  • The continuation of unrestricted capacity for direct services to other Australian international airports.