OREANDA-NEWS. Today marks the first direct link between the UK and the Philippines, a major emerging market destination, in more than a decade.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) has chosen Heathrow over other UK airports, despite them having lower landing charges and claiming to be a viable alternative to Heathrow for new routes to emerging markets. Heathrow is PAL's first European destination since flights to Europe were discontinued in 1998.

PAL will fly direct between Heathrow and Manila five times a week from Terminal 4, providing the fastest travel to Manila (average 12.5 hours) as well as top Philippine tourist spots and other destinations in Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea and Australia. The move has been around five years in the making and the airline has expressed a wish to move to daily flights subject to other slots becoming available.

Emerging markets will be the engines of world growth in coming decades. Over the next ten years, the IMF forecasts that the eight largest emerging markets will account for more than half of global GDP growth. We know businesses trade up to twenty times more with countries they have direct links to so the new route will help to boost UK trade. According to the IMF, the Philippines have an economy worth USD 284bn, with GDP expected to rise to USD 451bn by 2018.

Last year, one third of the estimated 349,000 European visitors to the Philippines came from the UK. In the first half of 2013, arrivals from UK reached 60,234.

Heathrow's Chief Executive, Colin Matthews, said:

'I'm delighted to welcome the newest member of Heathrow's airlines. Because Heathrow is full, it's difficult to find slots for new arrivals and this has taken years of negotiation. Whilst it's a success story for Heathrow and the UK, linking British businesses to trading opportunities in a key emerging market, it also shows the challenge of putting these links in place. Without a larger hub airport, the UK can expect to fall behind in the global race for trade, jobs and economic growth.'