With the easing of travel restrictions for foreign tourists, Cebu Pacific (CEB) is resuming operations in five international routes this quarter.
CEB said it has resumed its thrice weekly flights to Bangkok, and weekly flights to Fukuoka and Jakarta, in time for the easing of Philippine arrival quarantine restrictions and reopening of borders for tourists this month.
CEB also plans to resume its flights to other international routes from Manila next month, to Ho Chi Minhon March 1 as well as Taipei on March 2.
The United Arab Emirates authorities have also lifted capacity restrictions on the Dubai-Manila route, enabling CEB to resume its daily flight frequency beginning March 1.
“We continue to bank on the rebound of domestic tourism this year while remaining agile in addressing demand for international travel as well. We are encouraged that with these positive indicators, more OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) can also fly back home easily and safely to their families,” said Xander Lao, CEB chief commercial officer.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases recently revised the entry and quarantine protocols for international arrivals to the Philippines, temporarily suspending its country classification restrictions, which listed countries under green, yellow and red categories.
Based on these guidelines, fully vaccinated passengers from visa-free countries can visit for business or leisure purposes, and are no longer required to observe mandatory facility-based quarantine upon arrival, as long as they present a negative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test result taken 48 hours prior to arrival.
“This development will benefit the tourism industry across the Philippines as we welcome vaccinated travelers from around the world to explore our beautiful shores. We laud the Department of Tourism for actively pushing for our country to start accepting foreign tourists again, and we will support this initiative however we can,” said Lao.