Airlines suspend all international, domestic flights

SUSPENSION. As travel restrictions and community quarantines in some regions in the Philippines take effect, local airlines have decided to temporarily suspend all flights. (SunStar File)
SUSPENSION. As travel restrictions and community quarantines in some regions in the Philippines take effect, local airlines have decided to temporarily suspend all flights. (SunStar File)

LOCAL carriers are temporarily suspending flights following the “enhanced community quarantine” in Luzon announced by the Philippine government on Monday, March 16, 2020.

Budget airline Cebu Pacific and Cebgo said Tuesday, March 17, it has suspended all its flight operations from March 19 until April 14 in support of the government’s appeal to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The airline said its last day of operations will be on March 18 for flights from Manila to Bangkok, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Ho Chi Minh, Singapore, Taipei, Bali and Jakarta.

Affected passengers may rebook their flights with waived fare difference and change fee, apply for full refund or keep them for their travel fund in the future.

Those traveling between April 15 and 30 who no longer wish to push through with their flights may avail themselves of rebooking with waived change fee and full travel fund with extended validity to 180 days.

The airline also announced that all Cebu Pacific ticket offices will be closed from March 19 to April 14.

Cebu Pacific’s temporary suspension of flights came after reports that it is letting go of over 150 cabin crew amid the Covid-19 travel restrictions.

“As we foresee less flights and reduced operations in the coming months, we will have less requirement for flying staff. Given this situation, it is a difficult decision, but we are letting go of our newly hired cabin crew because less flights mean less time and opportunity for them to gain inflight experience. It is a painful, but necessary action to take to cope with the impact of Covid-19,” Cebu Pacific said in a statement.

Philippine Airlines

On the other hand, Philippines Airlines (PAL) on Tuesday, March 17, also cancelled all its domestic flights effective immediately until April 12. Flights will resume on April 13.

PAL international flights, on the other hand, will continue until March 19 while the status of flights from March 20 to April 12 will be announced later.

International flights departing the Philippines from March 17 to 20 will only carry foreign nationals and overseas Filipino workers. International flights arriving in the Philippines on the same dates are allowed to carry Filipino nationals, their foreign spouses and children and holders of permanent resident visas.

In addition, AirAsia Philippines also cancelled select flights.

AirAsia cancelled its domestic flights to and from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila from March 15 to April 14.

AirAsia’s domestic flights to the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, domestic flights to and from the Kalibo International Airport, as well as some domestic and international flights to and from the Clark International Airport, have similarly been cancelled following directives of respective local government units.

From 12:01 a.m. of Tuesday, March 17, all domestic passengers arriving in Cebu via air travel, except for public officials, and police and health personnel on official business, shall be denied entry under Executive Order 5-E issued by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia on Saturday, March 14.

“We are looking at a full 30-day mitigation period to ensure that we shall be able to prevent the entry and, hopefully, keep out the coronavirus that is now spreading,” Garcia said earlier. (JOB)

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