(TAN): Philippine Airlines plans to resume partial international and domestic operations on select routes in May.
The flag-carrier of Philippines, however, notified that the plans are “highly subject to change” depending on a number of factors related to the outbreak, including the stint of quarantines imposed on the country, travel restrictions currently in place along with the effect of these bans on travel demand, and public health and safety of the cities served by the airline.
As for international flights, the airline plans to fly to Japan, the United States, Guam, Australia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Saudi Arabia and South Korea every week in May.
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Philippine Airlines said it will not be operating any flights to and from Auckland, New York JFK, Dubai, Doha, Perth, Melbourne, Port Moresby and Sapporo during the month. The airline added it will announce the list of operating flights “as soon as possible” in an updated travel advisory once the details have been finalised.
While the airline will not operate any international flights this month, it will continue to operate special flights as per requirement to transport stranded passengers or cargo so that “critical supply chains” across the Philippines and within the Asia-Pacific region are kept intact.
The carrier said partial domestic operations could restart depending on the government’s lifting of isolation measures.
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Philippine Airlines will fly a special flight from Melbourne, Australia to Manila on April 19 to retrieve only Philippine nationals and passport holders, their foreign spouse and children, and officials of foreign governments and international organisations.
The airline will deploy an Airbus A330 aircraft for the special flight that will depart Melbourne at 0800 hours and reach Manila at 1440 hours, local time.
“In our nearly 80 years of service to the world, Philippine Air Lines has never experienced a complete disruption of this scale, with the exception of World War II,” the airline said.
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Philippine Airlines has cancelled all domestic and international flights until May, but the airline is operating repatriation flights.