The country’s leading budget airline Cebu Pacific is now preparing to resume flights all over the country including to and from Palawan once it receives the go signal from the government.
CEBPAC Corporate Communications Director Charo Lagamon said that the airline is now on preparation stage of its ground and cabin personnel so they can resume operations once the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philipoines allows airlines to resume their domestic or international flights.
“Bagama’t wala pa tayong official or formal [communication] when can we officially resume ng flights, dahil naka enhanced community quarantine tayo, but naghahanda na tayo dahil darating naman ang araw na yun, we have in place some precautionary measures para ma-ensure natin kahit papano ligtas ang ating mga flights,” Lagamon said during a live interview via Chris Ng Bayan of Palawan Daily News.
Lagamon said that the new normal in travelling requires stringent cleaning and disinfecting of all their facilities and aircrafts, while the cabin crew will be wearing personal protective equipment during the flights plus they will strictly require passengers to wear mask, and strictly observe physical distancing.
“Enhanced din po ang ating cleaning at disinfecting ng ating mga facilities, ng mga eroplano, sinabi naman ng mga eksperto na keeping clean ay isang way na makaiwas sa contamination,” Lagamon said.
In the past months of the quarantine period, Lagamon said that their airlines have numerous flights called sweeper or repatriation flights intended for those local and domestic tourists stranded in many places upon arrangement with local government, plus they continued their cargo plane operations, as well.
She appealed to all their ticket holders who have purchased and confirmed booking since March 16 that it is all still valid up to now. All they need to do is manage their booking online for refund or future travel.
“Please bear with us hindi po madali sa Cebu Pacific at sa kahit anung airlines sa boung mundo itong sitwasyon sa COVID, hindi po lingid sa kaalaman ng lahat na talagang malaki po ang problema ng mga airlines sa ngayon. Sana naintindihan nyo ang aming sitwasyon. We will try to assist po as much as we can, pero meron tayo mga limitasyon sa ngayon at wala pong may kagustuhan nitong nangyari,” Lagamon added.
Cebu Pacific has five domestic routes in and out of Puerto Princesa and Coron, to and from Manila, Cebu, Iloilo and Clark, Pampanga, plus international route to Hongkong.