MANILA (AFP) - The Philippines expects to be removed from a United States air safety blacklist this year, opening a lucrative market for its carriers, an aviation regulator said on Thursday.

Mr John Andrews, deputy director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap), said he was very confident the upgrade would occur following a similar decision by the European Union last week.

"We're going to make it. (It's) as simple as that," Mr Andrews told AFP in an interview.

The US Federal Aviation Administration said in 2008 that the Philippines was failing to comply with international safety standards, and banned its airlines from expanding services to the US. The European Union banned all Philippine carriers from flying to Europe in 2010 for similar reasons.

Reforms put in place since then, including a law creating a new aviation regulator, the Caap, allowed the Philippines to satisfy the concerns of the International Civil Aviation Organization in February.

This led to the EU's decision last week to allow Philippine Airlines to begin flying into its airspace. The EU said it was reviewing the case of other Filipino carriers.

Mr Andrews said he expected US aviation regulators to make similar findings when it carried out an audit before the end of the year. He said Filipino regulators had addressed safety concerns by physically tracking down every aircraft registered in the Philippines and getting their owners to submit documentation.