We are indeed not alone in the call for the Philippine government to establish a ‘green lane’ for vaccinated individuals traveling within the country. AirAsia Philippines joins the call for establishing the green lane and a more standardized vaccination verification. In order to really at least build back the domestic travel industry we need a ‘green lane’ and standardized domestic travel requirements.
The recent recommendation of the IATF to allow fully vaccinated individuals to present vaccination cards in lieu of testing requirements has been well received by the air travellers. However, there is still something missing. The Department of Health has recently given Local Government Units (LGUs) the authority to determine travel requirements for entry into their jurisdictions.
This will mean inconsistent travel requirements once again which will really hurt the domestic travel industry. In other countries, domestic travel has already been on a recovery phase.
According to AirAsia Philippines spokesperson Steve Dailisan, “AirAsia believes that the ‘green lane’ for fully vaccinated individuals will encourage more leisure travelers who have previously expressed concerns on varying requirements per destination. This will save them time and money in securing testing requirements.
“The recent pronouncement which allows fully vaccinated individuals to present vaccination cards in lieu of testing requirements positively stirred the booking behavior of the public.
“While we strongly support the easing of restrictions among fully vaccinated individuals as key to rebooting tourism, there must be no room for complacency. Forward looking, there should be a system in place to verify the accuracy of the vaccination cards.”
AirAsia offers RT-PCR testing at affordable rates by partnering with different laboratories
There had already been cases of people submitting fake RT-PCR test results. While of course we do not condone this as this can put the lives of others in great danger, RT-PCR testing can really be too costly.
As such, AirAsia has partnered laboratories such as Safeguard DNA Diagnostics and Health Metrics that offer cheaper rates for RT-PCR tests from as low as PhP 2,500 with results yielding from 24 to 48 hours.
Philippine Airport Diagnostic Laboratory (PADLAB) meanwhile offers PhP 2,799 for RT-PCR test with 48-hour result, PhP 2,999 if within 24 hours, PhP 3,299 if within 12 hours and Antigen test for only PhP 775.
More Filipinos continue to receive the covid-19 vaccine. To date, 9 million vaccines have been administered in the Philippines while around 3 million people have been fully vaccinated.
A ‘green lane’ and standardized set of requirements will really help the aviation industry gain foothold
While other countries’ borders are still closed or entry are still restricted, it is important for the Philippines to grow its domestic travel and tourism industry, which has greatly been affected by the pandemic. Aside from the flight caps, inconsistent or non-standardized requirements just to travel locally have made Filipinos hesitant to travel within the country.
Of course we do understand that the government just wants to prevent a further spread or resurgence of Covid-19, however, we also have to balance things out for the good of all. Perhaps, a digital travel pass and more consistent travel requirements for all LGUs will greatly help the airlines and travel industry get back to its feet.
Lets hope that the Philippine government will head the call for standardized domestic travel requirements.
