In as much as airlines want to provide a fixed flight schedule for the benefit of passengers, airlines are forced to cancel some flights or to make changes to their flight schedules. This is due to evolving national and local government biosecurity protocols, limitations, and restrictions.
According to Philippine Airlines (PAL), for the current month of June and until further notice, international commercial arrivals are still limited by the IATF to a maximum of 600 passengers per day on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at Manila’s NAIA airport. These limits need to be shared across the 3 Filipino and 22 foreign airlines that fly into the Philippines.
The airline in a statement also said that for domestic travel, various local government requirements have been put in place that require all airlines to coordinate their schedules based on the specific needs of each province.
Airlines do not want flight disruptions
In order to avoid flight disruptions, ground teams have been in constant communication with local government units (LGUs) to reflect their requirements and preferred flight frequencies, according to PAL. Despite the frequent changes presently being experienced, it is expected that the situation will get better as more LGUs open their borders and finalize all necessary requirements.
Flight disruptions lead to further losses in a time when airlines have to manage these to the detail after not flying for two long months.
While cancellations and disruptions are unavoidable during this “adjustment” period, both airlines and government officials are doing their best to improve the situation.
Controlling the spread of the coronavirus
The airlines have been working hand-in-hand in order to control the spread of the coronavirus to other parts of the country. While lot of biosecurity measures are in place at airports and respective LGUs however, it was only last June 1 when airlines were allowed to resume commercial flights. This resulted to more fine tuning and adjustments of biosecurity protocols in airports in order to maintain efficiency and effectivity.
According to PAL, efforts by the airline together with government officials will lead to more stable and frequent schedules. It is also hopeful that these actions will increase capacity to allow more Filipinos to come back to the country.
