Foreigners from countries with new COVID-19 variant cases won’t be allowed in flights to PH – PAL

MANILA, Philippines – Flag carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL) will temporarily stop flying foreigners from countries that are included in the Philippines’ expanded travel ban list which was issued to prevent the entry of a new coronavirus variant that was first detected in the United Kingdom.
In a travel advisory issued on December 29, PAL said it will only allow Filipino citizens to board its flights from Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Canada, South Korea, and Australia.
PAL said the policy will take effect from December 30, 2020 to January 15, 2021 in compliance with the Philippine government’s travel restrictions.
“For flights to the Philippines, we will be unable to accept foreign nationals who originated from, or were in transit via, or had visited the following countries within 14 days prior to their supposed arrival in the Philippines,” the company said.
These 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 United Kingdom.
Filipino citizens, who had visited any of the above countries are allowed to enter the Philippines but will be required to undergo a strict 14-day quarantine period at a designated quarantine facility.
However, passengers who are already in transit and arrive before December 30, 2020, 12:01AM, from the 20 countries / areas listed above, and/or who have been in these areas within 14 days prior to arrival, will be allowed entry but will be required to undergo an absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period, even if their mandatory RT-PCR test results are negative.
The latest travel restrictions are mandated by the presidential approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) resolution restricting travel into the Philippines from specified countries, as a protection measure against the new variant of the SARS-COV 2 Virus.
PAL earlier announced the cancellation of flights to and from London until end-February 2021 in view of the tier 4 lockdown of the UK government.
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,” PAL said.