Davao City—Singapore Airlines (SIA) is seeking airport clearance from the city government as the airline wants to resume flights to its usual destinations.
City Tourism Operations Office Chief Regina Rosa Tecson said Monday that Singapore Airlines has sent a letter requesting for runway and terminal clearance for their so-called Northern Winter Flights, which will operate from October up to March next year.
Tecson said the airline would start its operation on October 31.
The airline operates a weekly flight between Davao City and Singapore which caters mostly to overseas Filipino workers, local businessmen and foreign nationals. The route was cancelled last year after the Francisco Bangoy International Airport was closed to air traffic due to the pandemic.
The airport is now handled by the Davao Airport Authority and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
Tecson expressed optimism that SIA’s request would be approved. She also said the resumption of the Davao-Singapore flights would help revive the tourism industry.
“The Northern Winter Flight scheduled from October 31, 2021, to March 6, 2022, is the first for Singapore Airlines more than a year after the Covid-19 affected all international travels globally,” the city information office said, which posted the interview it had with Tecson upon the request of Singapore Airlines. She said she has discussed the matter with the private sector for an offering of a “staycation package” for a group of foreign tourists who will arrive via a chartered flight of Singapore Airlines on October 31.
Quarantine hotels for the arriving international tourists would not be a problem, Tecon said, as the city is “well prepared.”
Davao City requires the presentation of a negative RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours prior to traveling to the city, Tecson said. The Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Resolution Nos. 144-A and 144-B dated October 14, classified Singapore as a Yellow List Country, indicating moderate risk.
The testing and quarantine requirements for travelers from yellow list countries are specified as follows:
n Fully vaccinated individuals travelling to the Philippines from Singapore are to undergo a 10-day quarantine, while unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals are to undergo a 14-day quarantine;
n Fully vaccinated foreign nationals must be pre-booked in a facility or quarantine accommodation for at least six days while fully vaccinated Filipino travellers must be in a facility-based quarantine until the release of negative RT-PCR on the fifth day;
n Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated foreign nationals, or those travelers whose vaccination status cannot be validated, or fully-vaccinated persons but who failed to comply with the test before travel requirement, they must be pre-booked in a quarantine accommodation for at least eight days; and
n Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Filipinos or whose vaccination status cannot be validated, or fully vaccinated Filipinos but who failed to comply with the test-before-travel requirement must be in a facility-based quarantine until the release of negative RT-PCR test on the seventh day.