PAL advisory: Citizens of countries with new coronavirus variant won’t be allowed in flights to PH

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Airlines will stop flying foreigners from countries that are on an expanded travel ban list meant to prevent the entry of a new, more contagious coronavirus variant.

In a travel advisory on Tuesday (Dec. 29), the flag carrier said it would allow only Filipino citizens on its flights from Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Canada, South Korea and Australia.

The policy would take effect from Dec. 30 to Jan. 15, 2021.

“For other flights, we will not be allowed to accept foreign nationals who originated from, or were in transit via, or had visited the following countries within 14 days prior to arrival in the Philippines,” PAL said.

The countries are Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Israel, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Switzerland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, South Africa, Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom.

PAL said foreigners, who are from those countries but are already in transit, will be allowed to enter the Philippines but will be placed on “absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period, even if their mandatory RT-PCR test results are negative.”

Filipino citizens, who had been to any of the countries on the list, are allowed entry in the Philippines but would be required to go on a 14-day quarantine at a designated facility.

In the same advisory, PAL said flights to Jakarta will be cancelled from Jan. 1-14 next year after the Indonesian government announced the closure of its borders.

PAL earlier announced the cancellation of flights to and from London until end-February 2021.

It said affected passengers may rebook on the next available flights after the restriction period, with rebooking service fees waived.

They may also refund the cost of their ticket with refunding service fees waived. A third available option is the conversion of the PAL ticket into a travel voucher for future use.

Edited by TSB