PAL plans to resume some flights

Philippine Airlines (PAL) plans to partly operate international routes next month, the flag carrier said ahead of the government decision to extend the quarantine period as the pandemic lingers.

As for the domestic flights, it said it was readying plans to resume at some point within the period from April 15 to May 31.

PAL issued its advisory before the government’s announcement on Tuesday extending the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon until April 30.

In response to the new directive, budget carrier AirAsia said on Tuesday that it was canceling all its domestic and international Z2 flights until April 30.

PAL said its plans were “highly subject to change, depending on a number of crucial factors related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.”

“These factors include the duration of current Philippine community quarantines, the status of relevant travel bans and restrictions imposed by various governments and their effect on passenger demand, and above all on the public health and safety situation in each of the cities and countries that PAL serves,” it added.

The flag carrier said it would still consider operating ad hoc special flights for stranded passengers and cargo flights.

PAL said it was planning to operate from May 1 to 31 a reduced number of weekly flights on its routes to Japan, the United States, Canada, Guam, Australia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taipei, Macau, Saudi Arabia, and Korea.

“However, we shall not be operating any flights to and from the following international destinations for the month of May: Auckland, New York JFK, Dubai, Doha, Perth, Melbourne, Port Moresby, and Sapporo. All flights on these routes have been cancelled for the month of May,” it added.

AirAsia said its customers with bookings made on or before March 22, 2020 with a departure date until May 31, 2020 are given a range of extended flexibility options for future travel.

Passengers can choose to change to a new travel date before Oct. 31, 2020 on the same route for an unlimited number of times without any additional charges subject to seat availability. Another option is retaining the value of their flight booking in their Big Member account for future travel, which can be redeemed within 365 calendar days from the issuance date. — Arjay L. Balinbin