Philippines Airlines (PAL) with full support from various government stakeholders has proposed to pilot test a “no-quarantine protocol” for vaccinated passengers from North America to address the difficulty faced by arriving international passengers.
Dexter Lee, PAL senior vice president and chief strategy and planning officer, said in a text mesage the proposal received positive feedback from the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“Our suggestions (are) now with the IATF Technical Working Group for further deliberation.
We are grateful for the full support of stakeholders — DOTr (Department of Transportation), DFA (Department of Finance), DOH (Department of Health) and other government agencies. Any official announcement will emanate from the IATF,” Lee said.
This proposal, PAL said, would cover former Filipino citizens residing in North America and are traveling to Manila as balikbayans; Filipino citizens residing in North America and; foreign spouses of Filipino nationals residing in North America.
Presidential adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said the US has allowed only a negative RT PCR test and proof of vaccination status as travel requirements for Filipinos.
“We need to extend the same privilege to America,” Concepcion said, referring to reciprocity of policies.
In a presentation by OCTA Research fellow Fr. Nic Austriaco, data showed that new infections in the Philippines cannot be attributed to international arrivals as homegrown transmissions account for almost all of the new COVID-19 cases in the country today, with arriving international passengers accounting for only 1.8 cases of the average 6,000 new cases at this time.
These coincide with data by PAL whose tracking observed that positivity rates among inbound passengers from North America have been relatively low, and that 90 percent of their North America passengers are vaccinated.
Meanwhile, PAL has announced its long-haul routes and flight offerings for the upcoming winter schedule that begins in late October and encompasses the usual holiday peak season.
These flights will serve the US and Canadian East and West Coast as well as Europe and Hawaii: Manila to Los Angeles, Manila to San Francisco — Manila, New York,
London ,Honolulu, Vancouver and Toronto.
