The Philippines’ largest airline, Cebu Pacific (CEB), attains 100 per cent vaccination rate for its active flying crew through its very own employee vaccination program, COVID Protect, and various partnerships with local government units (LGUs) in the country.
CEB celebrates this milestone as scheduled, and in time for the expected increase in passengers in the coming months, following the easing of travel restrictions across the Philippines.
“We are very pleased to share this news with everyone as we prepare to ramp-up our domestic network to cater to the pent-up travel demand. CEB continues to boost its safety protocols and we know having a fully vaccinated crew will strengthen the trust and confidence of the public in air travel,” said Felix Lopez, Vice President for People Department at Cebu Pacific.
The COVID Protect program is part of the Gokongwei Group’s initiative for all its business units. Through this, CEB employees received free inoculation for themselves and their dependents, as well as third-party workers, such as check-in agents and bag handlers.
Apart from this conglomerate-led program, CEB also worked hand-in-hand with various Philippine local government units these past months to ensure its employees will be inoculated with whatever vaccine is available, at the earliest time possible.
“We commend our pilots and crew for voluntarily getting vaccinated, not only to protect themselves and their families, but even the passengers they fly with. We also express our gratitude to our leaders at the Gokongwei Group for spearheading the vaccination program, and of course, our government partners for recognizing the transport sector as a priority group,” said Capt. Sam Avila, Vice President for Flight Operations at Cebu Pacific.
Cebu Pacific’s entire workforce is now 98 per cent fully vaccinated. As the first airline partner of the Ingat-Angat initiative, and as a major supporter in nation-building, CEB has been actively transporting vaccines from abroad to the Philippines, and across the country since March this year. To date, the airline has safely airlifted 16.5 million vaccine doses from China to the Philippines, and close to 25 million vaccine doses across 28 domestic destinations.
CEB has achieved a 7-star safety rating from airlineratings.com for its COVID-19 compliance. It continues to implement a multi-layered approach to safety as it endeavors to restore the public’s trust in air travel.
CEB operates the widest domestic network in the Philippines covering 32 destinations, on top of its eight (8) international destinations. Its 73-strong fleet, one of the youngest in the world, includes two (2) dedicated ATR freighters and one (1) A330 freighter.
