Local carriers have to wait longer to resume flights

MANILA, Philippines — Local carriers may have to wait a little longer before they can resume passenger flights following the extension of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine up to the end of the month.

In an advisory on Monday, before President Duterte approved the extension of the enhanced community quarantine to April 30, flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PA) said it is readying plans to resume partial domestic operations at some point within the period from April 15 to May 31.

“The start date will depend on the lifting of the community quarantine restrictions versus domestic air travel.  We will await the final government decisions, and will announce the list of domestic flights to be operated once finalized,” PAL said.

While it has no plans to operate any international routes for the rest of April, PAL said it is already setting plans to operate a reduced number of weekly flights on routes to Japan, US, Canada, Guam, Australia, UK, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taipei, Macau, Saudi Arabia and Korea from May 1 to 31.

However, PAL said it would not be operating any flights to and from Auckland, New York JFK, Dubai, Doha, Perth, Melbourne, Port Moresby, and Sapporo for the month of May.

Asked for how the announcement of the extension of the enhanced community quarantine will affect the airline’s plans to resume operations, PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the airline is still “sorting things out.”

PAL earlier announced the suspension of all its flights until April 14.

Budget carrier Cebu Pacific, for its part, has cancelled all its flights from March 19 to April 14 in compliance with the government’s earlier directive.

Cebu Pacific spokesperson Charo Logarta-Lagamon said that the carrier’s passenger flights would remain suspended this month following the government’s decision to extend the quarantine period in Luzon.

Meanwhile, AirAsia Philippines announced that it is cancelling all domestic and international flights until April 30 with the community quarantine extended.