Travelers moving between Manila and Reykjavik currently have no nonstop option, instead routing through connecting points in Asia, the Middle East, or Europe. That gap is what a newly signed aviation pact aims to close.
The Department of Transportation announced Thursday that Philippine and Icelandic negotiators concluded an Initial Air Services Agreement, the first of its kind between the two governments. The document was settled after talks spanning August 18 and 19 in Reykjavik, with Assistant Secretary Edgar Badajos of the Department of Foreign Affairs signing for Manila and Sigríður Eysteinsdóttir, the Icelandic Foreign Ministry’s Director and Chief Negotiator for Air Services Agreements, signing for Reykjavik.
The terms allow carriers from each side to operate up to seven weekly flights, a daily frequency covering both passengers and cargo. According to the DOTr, airlines may run either nonstop or connecting routes under those rights, depending on what the market supports.
Transportation Secretary Banoy Lopez framed the outcome as a starting point rather than an endpoint. “This Agreement will serve as the foundation for our future air transportation relationship and will provide our airlines with a framework to explore new opportunities for connectivity between our two countries and, ultimately, between our respective regions. Today, we are not simply concluding our first air negotiations. We are opening a new chapter in Philippine-Iceland relations in the field of civil aviation,” he said.
Eysteinsdóttir, who led the Icelandic team, described the negotiations in cordial terms. “I would like to thank you all for the warm, friendly, and constructive spirit in which our discussions have taken place. We are very pleased with what we have achieved together. Our discussions have helped us to better understand each other’s priorities and find a way forward,” she said.
The DOTr placed the agreement within a wider push under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to widen the country’s international aviation reach, with the Nordic region identified as a specific area of interest.
