MANILA, Philippines — Flag-carrier Philippine Airlines announced Tuesday that it will temporarily suspend its international flights from March 26 up to April 14, 2020, as more and more people become infected with COVID-19.
In an advisory, PAL said they “could no longer sustain even a limited number of international flights” as more countries implement strict travel and entry restrictions amid the pandemic.
“We regret to advise that all remaining Philippine Airlines international flights will be suspended temporarily, starting from 26 March 2020, Thursday until 14 April 2020. All domestic flights had ceased as of March 17, 2020,” PAL said.
Moreover, PAL said there has also been a collapse in demand for travel and that the airline company has been facing “continuing challenges” with regard to the staffing of its Manila airport hub amid the enhanced community quarantine imposed all over Luzon.
“Accordingly, our last flight to depart from Manila this week will be PR 104 bound for San Francisco at 10:10 PM on March 25. Several flights will continue to arrive in Manila on March 26 from Los Angeles, Tokyo Narita, and Jakarta, and on March 27 from New York JFK, San Francisco, and Los Angeles,” PAL noted.
PAL said it is eyeing to resume its operations on April 15 “if warranted by Philippine and international authorities, global public health conditions and the travel environment.”
“We shall now turn our attention to the task of conserving our resources in anticipation of the recovery and caring for the needs of our PAL team members, while we keep our fleet ready for the day that we resume flying,” it said.
“We shall continue to make aircraft and service personnel available for special flights to retrieve stranded passengers as well as cargo flights to keep intact critical supply chains across our islands,” it added.
The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic since it has already infected more than 386,960 people worldwide and killed more than 16,750. On the other hand, over 102,400 people have recovered so far from the highly-contagious disease.