The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) clarifies airlines’ announcements of the resumption of domestic flights following the implementation of general community quarantine (GCQ) in NCR: no domestic flights as the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IAFT) has yet to approve local air travel routes for the first week of June.

“Airlines are hereby advised to cancel their flights [for] June 1, 2020, and to stop selling tickets for [that] date,” CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla said in the advisory issued on Saturday, May 30.

Last weekend, three of the country’s major airlines, Philippine Airlines (PAL), Cebu Pacific and Air Asia announced that they will be resuming their domestic operations this week.

On Saturday, PAL said that operations, which have been halted for three months, will resume today Jun. 1. But after the CAB announcement, they moved the resumption of flights from Manila to Jun. 8.

Its international operations, it said, will have limited flights from Jun. 1 to 30. These include flights to the United States, Canada, Guam, Vietnam, mainland China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Japan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Tuesday, Jun. 2 was supposed to be Cebu Pacific’s return to local operations, with its international flights suspended until Jun. 30.

AirAsia flights from Manila to local destinations, on the other hand, would gradually resume beginning Jun. 3 with international flights back in operation on Jul. 1, according to its advisory dated May 31.

These flights will only accommodate returning overseas Filipino workers, seafarers, diplomats and citizens stuck in NCR returning to their provinces. Leisure travels are still prohibited.

However, in an interview with CNN Philippines today, Jun. 1, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade said domestic flights from one GCQ area to another GCQ area is allowed. Tugade also touched on the possibility of lifting the ban on leisure travel to boost tourism but only if the receiving LGU allows it.

DOTr is also planning to open international gateways in locations other than Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminals 1-4 to ease the travel of Filipinos from abroad returning to their respective provinces. Target locations include Clark, Cebu and Davao.

Header photo courtesy of Inquirer

Get more stories like this by subscribing to our weekly newsletter here.