DUBAI: Expatriates from the Philippines will be exempted from paying extra aviation charges when they book flights with Emirates. A spokesperson for the UAE-based carrier told Gulf News that, in order to comply with Philippine laws concerning migrant workers, Filipinos based abroad won’t be obliged to pay the local travel tax and terminal fees. To avail themselves of the exemption, however, passengers should present an overseas employment certificate (OEC) at the time of booking or prior to departure.
“Emirates complies with all relevant legislation within the Philippines. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who book flights with Emirates, and hold a valid OEC are entitled to a Philippine travel tax and terminal fees exemption, which is processed at the time of ticketing or can be claimed at the airport prior to departure,” the spokesperson said. The exemptions could mean a saving of nearly Dh200 per passenger, or more than 5 per cent off the average price of a return ticket to UAE. Filipino citizens are exempted from the payment of travel tax, which is set at 1,620 pesos (Dh118) per economy class passenger, and airport fee, which can cost 750 pesos (Dh55), pursuant to Philippine laws.
The Philippines’ Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello III had earlier ordered several carriers including Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Gulf Air and Saudia Airlines, among many others, to stop incorporating the cost of travel tax and airport fees in their tickets issued to Filipinos working abroad. “It has come to my attention that the travel tax and terminal fees are being included in the cost of the airline tickets issued to our OFWs,” said Bello in his letter to the carriers. “While some OFWs were refunded of these fees at the airport prior to their departure, most of them, however, were not refunded because of lack of awareness about this privilege or lack of time to process their claim for refund,” said Bello. According to estimates, there are more than 600,000 Filipinos working in the UAE. They constitute a huge proportion of expatriates from Asia. Starting March 30, 2016, Emirates has been operating a daily circular service from Dubai to Cebu and Clark in the Philippines. The airline also announced last year that it will start four new weekly flights to Manila in addition to its current twice daily service, to cater to the growing market.
