LOCAL carriers are resuming their flights to and from Taipei following the decision of the Inter-Agency Committee for the Management of Infectious Diseases to lift the ban on travel to and from Taiwan. The restoration of flights is on staggered basis, however, with both the Philippine carriers and those of Taiwan still assessing the situation and their schedules, as some cancellations—the result of Manila’s sudden expansion of its travel ban over COVID-19—were already made to last until June or July.
Philippine Airlines ( PAL), Cebu Pacific (CEB) and Taiwanese carriers China Airlines (CAL) and Eva Air said they will continue their reduced flight operation to and from Taiwan despite Malacañang’s lifting on Friday (February 14) of the travel ban to Taiwan.
It was reported last Saturday that the Taiwanese government’s CAL flights CI0701 and CI0702 between Taipei and Manila will remain canceled.
The airline said it is evaluating whether those flights could be restored, adding that it will update its flight services depending on the situation.
On February 13, CAL delayed the launch of the Taoyuan-Cebu route on March 29 until June 12, because of the Philippine government’s ban on Taiwanese travelers entering the Philippines while preventing Filipinos from going to Taiwan, due to the coronavirus epidemic.
Taiwan’s private carrier EVA Airways, meanwhile, said it will maintain its current operations of two Taipei-Manila flights and one Taipei-Cebu flight per day, and weighs the possibility of resuming full services of three Taipei-Manila flights and one Taipei-Cebu flight daily.
Taiwanese start-up carrier StarLux Airlines, which announced on February 12 it will postpone the launch of its Taoyuan-Cebu route on April 6 until July 1, said it will maintain that decision although the Philippine government has lifted the ban to Taiwan.
The Philippine carriers, which decided to cancel their Taiwan-Philippines services after the February 10 ban was imposed, said they will restore services gradually.
Philippine Airlines spokesman Cielo Villaluna said PAL will start offering one Manila-Taipei flight on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday between February 21 to 29.
These services will be provided daily from March 1, and its standard regular schedule of twice daily flights between Manila and Taipei will take place from March 29 and onward.
Cebu Pacific (CEB) said it will resume its Flight 5J310 from Manila to Taipei starting February 17, and Flight 5J311 from Taipei to Manila beginning February 18.
CEB’s Manila-Taipei Flights 5J310, 5J311, 5J312 and 5J313 will be restored from February 21 onward, the carrier said.
AirAsia Philippines said it’s still finalizing its flight schedule following the government’s decision on Friday to lift the ban.
‘Strict, excellent protocols’
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said the ban was lifted “after it was established that Taiwan has been implementing very strict and excellent protocols in handing travelers,” amid the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.
In its memorandum on the expanded travel ban issued on February 10, 2020, the Civil Aeronautics Board said the move was implemented based on government’s “One-China Policy.” Immediately thereafter, Taipei issued a veiled warning that it was holding off any countermeasures, to enable Manila to reconsider the ban. There are some 160,000 Filipinos who work in Taiwan.
Ban wrong from start—Locsin
OnTwitter, commenting on the announcement of the travel ban’s lifting, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. said, “there was never any reason to ban it.”
He also said, “We must look at the sturdiness or flaccidity of a country’s demonstrated health and disease containment capability before so much as thinking of any action regarding access to and from it.” He also took a jab at the Department of Health, which chairs the Task Force, but still has a difficult time tracing the contacts of Covid-19 confirmed cases. “Most countries now afflicted appear to have sturdy systems; ours is still a question mark,” Locsin added.
In a news statement, the Department of Tourism (DOT) welcomed the lifting of the travel ban on Taiwan to minimize the impact of Covid-19 on the local tourism industry.
“The lifting of the travel ban on Taiwan is highly assuring, and we hope that the Covid-19 crisis would soon be resolved, worldwide. Ultimately, the recovery of all affected countries is a universal prayer, especially that tourism is an inclusive and sustainable business for and of the people,” said Romulo Puyat.
Stakeholders’ call
At the joint hearing of the Committees on Economic Affairs, and on Tourism at the House of Representatives last week, tourism stakeholders led by the Tourism Congress of the Philippines made an appeal to the government to lift the travel ban on Taiwan.
The DOT had projected additional losses in tourism revenue to reach P5 billion from February to April, due to the ban on travel from Taiwan, on top of the P38.2-billion estimate from the travel ban on mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Taiwan is the country’s fifth-largest source market for tourists, with arrivals up an impressive 37 percent to 305,570 from January to November 2019. It was only last year that the market recovered after previous years of sluggishness due to the apparent hate of Taiwanese for the Philippines. (See, “DOT pushes marketing amid decline in Taiwanese arrivals,” in the BusinessMirror, June 29, 2018.)
The DOT underscored tourism establishments and other allied services are currently implementing strict protocols in handling guests during the global emergency, by using infrared thermometers and making more hand sanitizers available to guests and clients.
Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo and Recto L. Mercene
Image credits: Nonie Reyes