Philippine Airlines announced on Tuesday it will cancel its remaining international flights as it could no longer sustain its limited operations amid coronavirus 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,” PAL said.
The flag carrier cited strict travel and entry restrictions imposed by more countries resulting to collapse in air travel demand and continuing challenges in staffing its Manila airport hub amid the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.
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“Accordingly, our last flight to depart from Manila this week will be PR 104 bound for San Francisco at 10:10 p.m. on March 25,” it said.
Meanwhile, 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 said it eyes to resume operations starting 15 April 2020, if warranted by Philippine and international authorities, global public health conditions and the travel environment.
The carrier will focus on conserving its resources in anticipation of the recovery and caring for the needs of its staff while keeping its fleet ready for flight continuation.
“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 said.
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“The global crisis is monumental in scale, but we are confident that we can all join together and work to overcome the challenges, and that your flag carrier will soon be back in the air to again link our beautiful country together and connect us with the world.”
The airline added that it will keep its customer support network open for its customers, including Global Reservations Hotlines at (+632) 8855-8888 (Manila) and 1-800-435-9725 (USA/Canada) and its website:
https://www.philippineairlines.com/en/faqs/2019novelcoronavirusncov
