ILOILO – The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has ordered the suspension of flights in and out of the Iloilo Airport from March 18 to April 14 in line with the ongoing “general community quarantine” against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in this province.
CAAP-Iloilo asked its central office for the suspension.
As part of the quarantine from March 16 to April 15, Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. imposed travel restrictions. He enjoined common carriers to “advice persons intending to travel to Iloilo about the quarantine; refuse issuance of any public transport contract/ticket; and/or refuse boarding on public transport, in so far as applicable.”
The provincial government welcomed CAAP’s move. It was furnished a copy of the request signed by CAAP-Iloilo acting airport manager Manuela Luisa Palma, according to Provincial Administrator Suzette Mamon.
Mamon discussed the travel restrictions yesterday afternoon with managers of airlines (Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air, Air Asia) and common carriers (land transport). She got their assurance to comply.
All aircraft operations are suspended except when they have to cater to the following:
* health workers responding to emergency
* members of the Philippine National Police and all branches of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
* persons travelling for urgent medical reasons
* persons traveling into the province on common carriers and/or transport for the conduct of trade, delivery of social/humanitarian services, fishing/marine activities, scientific/academic pursuit, and such other essential purposes, other than carriage of passengers
In January, Defensor called for a temporary suspension of international flights (to and from Hong Kong and Singapore) at the Iloilo Airport.
Defensor formally made known his request to Cebu Pacific Air through a letter.
“May we respectfully request for your voluntary cessation of international flights to and from the countries positive for the novel coronavirus immediately,” read part of Defensor’s letter addressed to Leah Vallido, operation manager of Cebu Pacific Air at the Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan, Iloilo.
Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, and Singapore have confirmed cases of infection from the virus which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Cebu Pacific suspended its Iloilo-Hong Kong (and vice versa) flights but kept its Iloilo-Singapore (and vice versa) flights.
Yesterday, Cebu Pacific announced all its domestic flights would be canceled starting March 20 until April 14, in line with the quarantine placed over Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon over COVID-19.
“(T)here are constant updates to the travel restrictions being imposed by various Philippine and international governments,” Cebu Pacific explained in a Monday advisory.
“These orders restrict our ability to mount flights and accommodate passengers affected by cancellations. We continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on any changes to our flights,” the airline added.
In the same advisory, Cebu Pacific clarified that domestic flights to and from Manila remained canceled./PN
