Philippines Info
Thanks for all your input. It's really appreciated. I met the Deputy Director of the Philippines ATO today at an ICAO conference in Montreal. Actually a very friendly, helpful guy. There were several main issues. A Caravan Amphib would need permission to use the harbour at Boracay for movement, and this puts you at the mercy of the local municipal council for permission. This council knows you are dependent on them and that you are a foreigner operating a million dollar plane. See the problem?? ICAO protects users from unfair pricing but only at registered airports. Therefore, float ops are regulated at the discretion of local, elected authorities. Here in Canada, the council understands that increased tourism results in revenues through taxes. But in the Philippines, I found that the prevalent attitude was far more short-sighted and the desire to line your own pockets was more pressing than the municipal coffers.
Second was the import taxes on aircraft. Add in tax on parts and it gets expensive. Next was the immigration issues. There appears to be an incredible bureaucracy built around the Department of Labour. There was a strong possibility of not getting permission for a permit to do the pilot duties, and hiring a local to shadow me as an understudy in the management. Not to mention the difficulty in hiring foreigners to help me when if I couldn't find qualified talent locally. He suggested to start off as partners with a local operator for an AOC for sched ops as the approval can take 2 years to be issued and needs an Act of Congress, as well as public hearings. In so many words, only the wealthy and connected need apply. You also have to look at the security issues, as you are dependent on foreigners who are very sensitive to violence, and the Abu Sayaf issue remains outstanding. Just look at what happenned in Bali.
Last, I compared prices that existing operators are charging and they are already at very low to no margins for profit. As I would expect a significant profit to compensate myself for all this added risk, the end result is that I learned a lot about the process but the payoff just isn't there assuming I was finally successful. I can make more money for far less effort in Florida and the Carribean with exactly the same type of operation. I guess in the end, you have to believe that the Philippines is poverty striken for a reason. When an outside investor like myself finds so many barriers, I'll take my money elsewhere. Multipy my situation times all the other investors like myself, and their economic problems become apparent very quickly. Thanks for all your replies, and I'm just fortunate that I did the research early enough before I got in too deep and lost a lot of money.