Starting today, Tuesday, two Philippine air carriers will temporarily suspend flights to Hong Kong for two consecutive weeks after the government detected the N501Y mutant Covid-19 strain for the first time in the Asian financial hub, authorities said in a news statement issued on late Sunday.
The ban, according to the Department of Labor and Employment, may leave at 1,300 overseas Filipino workers stranded, but the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said it would continue processing the overseas employment certificates (OEC) of OFWs, who will be deployed to the former Crown Colony.
POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said Philippine recruitment agencies would have shoulder the responsibility to rebook the flights and ensure the welfare of the affected OFWs.
“The OEC has a 60 days of validity so this means it will remain valid once the two-week temporary [flight] suspension is lifted,” Olalia said in an online news briefing on Monday.
POEA said Hong Kong still remains a top destination for OFWs, no matter that the pandemic has significantly reduced their numbers last year.
In 2020, only 32,000 OFWs were deployed to Hong Kong from 160,000 in 2019 in the years before that.
The Philippines, along with Pakistan and India was given an “extremely high risk” classification following multiple imported cases carrying the strain into Hong Kong in the past 14 days, the government said.
Airlines impacted by Hong Kong’s ban on travelers from India, Pakistan and the Philippines include carriers such as Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Airlines, Vistara and Cebu Pacific.
Philippine Airlines (PAL) announced the two-week cancellation to the former Crown Colony, “effective April 20, 2021 in line with the Hong Kong government’s directive suspending flights from the Philippines, among other countries,” PAL spokesman Cielo Villaluna said.
Affected passengers shall receive e-mail notifications.
For those whose flights have been affected by the cancellation, PAL said they may have the option to:
Convert your ticket to a Travel Voucher (request until June 30, 2021);
Avail of unlimited rebooking (no rebooking fee) until December 31, 2021. If you will be completing your travel in the same booking class by June 30, 2021 (or ticket validity, whichever comes first), there will be no fare difference charge;
Refund your ticket without penalties.
Guests may request any of the options via the myPAL request hub at https://mypal.vip/url.
Cebu Pacific, on the other hand, also said it has canceled their Manila-Hong Kong-Manila flights to comply with the Hong Kong government directive.
AirAsia Philippines has not resumed international flights except repatriation and chartered fights.
With Samuel P. Medenilla
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