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SCMP’s Asia desk

Airlines in the Philippines have reduced flights to China due to lower demand amid growing maritime tensions and a looming ban on Chinese-run online casinos.
Cebu Pacific said its Manila-Beijing service, which the low-cost carrier planned to restart since the Covid-19 pandemic, would be suspended until further notice.
The company said it would skip the China market for now and focus on destinations with high bookings.
Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has also reduced flight frequencies to China, retaining only a few routes, including Shanghai and Xiamen.
“PAL’s decision to reduce flights to China aligns with a broader trend, as the Chinese market has been slower to recover compared to other regions following the pandemic,” Carlos Luis Fernandez, the firm’s executive vice-president, told The Philippine Star.
Philippines AirAsia stopped all services to China at the end of August, according to airline schedule tracking platform AeroRoutes, while China Southern has also cut its flights to the Southeast Asian nation.
Arrivals by Chinese visitors – once the second biggest group of visitors to the Philippines thanks to the lure of its climate and sandy beaches – have languished at around 20 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. China ranked as the 14th most visited destination for Filipinos, accounting for 2.3 per cent of international travel.

The cutback of air services came after President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr in July ordered the closure of the crime-plagued Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator sector (Pogos) by the end of this year.
The Chinese embassy in Manila has welcomed the decision, saying: “We believe this decision echoes the call of the Philippine people and serves the common interests of people of both countries.”
The Pogo sector emerged in the Philippines in 2016 and grew exponentially as operators capitalised on the country’s liberal gaming laws to target customers in China, where gambling is banned.
At their peak, Pogos employed more than 300,000 Chinese workers, but the pandemic, higher taxes and enforcement blitz have forced many to operate elsewhere.
Beijing has repeatedly warned Chinese nationals not to work in Pogos in the Philippines, which have brought a spate of crime, including cryptocurrency scams, kidnapping and murder.
The Bureau of Immigration said last week about 3,000 Pogo workers have already left the country as the government stepped up efforts to shut down the operations of more than 400 gambling firms.
Failure of the industry’s employees to leave the Philippines by the end of December would result in deportation, it added.




Relations between Beijing and Manila have strained following frequent maritime stand-offs in the disputed South China Sea.
On Monday, the Philippines accused China’s navy of aiming lasers at its surveillance aircraft in the strategic waterway.
A similar incident also happened last year near the Second Thomas Shoal, where Filipino troops were stationed aboard a deliberately grounded rickety warship.
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the whole of the South China Sea – where the Philippines and several other nations have competing claims – and has rejected a 2016 international ruling that ruled in favour of Manila and found China’s territorial assertions have no legal basis.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg


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A Cebu Pacific Air plane takes off from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. Photo: AFP

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A member of law enforcement personnel trains with a drone on board a Chinese coastguard vessel near Scarborough Shoal on September 14. Photo: Xinhua

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Tony Yang appears before the Philippine Senate on September 24. Photo: Facebook/SenatePH

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Will delay in Philippine ratification of Japan defence pact affect deterrence plans?

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This Week in Asia

Politics

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Asia

Southeast Asia

One of the carriers, Philippine Airlines, says ‘the Chinese market has been slower to recover’ compared with other regions


One of the carriers, Philippine Airlines, says ‘the Chinese market has been slower to recover’ compared with other regions.


China-Philippines relations

South China Sea

Ferdinand Marcos, Jnr

Aviation