PAL mounts special flights to Xiamen for stranded passengers

Philippine Airlines (PAL) is mounting special volunteer-crewed flights to and from Xiamen on February 10 to ferry stranded passengers affected by the travel ban imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Manila-Xiamen route (Flight PR 334 departing at 7:30 a.m.) will be solely for stranded Chinese nationals and foreign nationals, with other stranded passengers of PAL's canceled flights, specifically Filipino citizens and Philippine permanent resident visa holders in other Chinese destinations, as the next priority.

The Xiamen-Manila route (Flight PR 335 departing at 11:05 a.m.) will permit these foreign nationals to travel back to mainland China via Xiamen.

PAL plans to utilize a 199-seater aircraft for these special flights.

These flights were compelled by the cancellation of mainland China flights since February 2 following a Philippine government travel ban on visitors from China and its Special Administrative Regions.

Two pilots and five cabin crew have volunteered for these special flights and will undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon their return.

Currently, 64 PAL crew members are already undergoing the mandatory 14-day quarantine after flying from China before the travel ban was implemented.