PAL says it’s trying to settle allegedly unpaid navigational charges
Philippine Airlines says it has been cooperating with the Philippine government for an amicable settlement of unpaid navigational charges allegedly owed by the airlines.
In August 2016, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), sent letters to PAL demanding payment of unpaid navigational charges in the amount of PHP 6.63B.
PAL released the following statement on the issue:
“(The) alleged unpaid navigational charges involves complex legal issues, which PAL has been trying to thresh out with the Authority for years.
“For the past months, both CAAP and PAL have been working together to validate these claims in their mutual and collaborative effort to settle this obligation. PAL has fully cooperated and will continue to cooperate with any and all agencies to resolve this concern.
“In fact, the same legal issues were the subject of a court case between PAL and the MIAA years back where the court ruled in favor of PAL. Despite the favorable ruling, PAL then opted to settle amicably with the MIAA as a manifestation of its full support of the government.
“In a similar vein, PAL has earlier manifested its willingness to amicably settle with the CAAP as a manifestation of its continued support for the Authority. Communications have been open between the parties as regards this matter.
“In fact, PAL stressed that CAAP created an inter-agency panel of negotiators for the proposed settlement via CAAP Authority Order 149-17.
“PAL formally submitted its offer to CAAP which is more than the amount covered by the CAAP supporting invoices received by PAL. To date however, PAL has not received any official response from CAAP on its offer.
“We look forward to meeting the negotiating panel and we are ready to submit a Compromise Agreement to settle this issue once and for all,” said PAL.”
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