AirAsia Philippines (Z2) reported that it has marked its “longest flight” over the weekend, repatriating 125 Filipino sea-based OFWs from a port city in western India to Manila, a distance covering 5,196 kilometers.
The 14-hour flight from Gujarat to Manila was coordinated by five local manning agencies whose workers were stranded in Bhavnagar, a seaport region of Gujarat state in Western India, for weeks.
The chartered flight departed Manila at 7:05 a.m. on July 18 for Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Gujarat, then flew back with the sea-based workers on July 19 at 9 a.m.
The return flight Z2 115 arrived in Manila on the same day at 9:28 p.m. (local time).
Given the length of the flight, the aircraft had a scheduled technical stop to refuel at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Bengal, India.
AirAsia Philippines Chief Executive Officer Ricky Isla said, “We are pleased to have not only mounted the longest flight ever for AirAsia Philippines but, at the same time, helped repatriate Filipinos overseas. We know how much they have longed to come home and we are honored to be part of their safe return to the Philippines.”
The special recovery flight was facilitated by the DFA and Regent Travel Corp.
Prior to this flight, AirAsia Philippines’s longest round-trip flight was between Manila and Yangon on June 12, lasting eight hours. It was a special recovery flight carrying 152 Myanmar nationals back to their homeland after they were trapped in Manila during the lockdown. The average duration of Z2 commercial international one-way flights is three hours.
AirAsia Philippines said it has mounted nearly 400 special recovery and cargo flights since March 16, 2020, flying over 25,000 passengers and over 600,000 kilograms of cargo to nearly 30 domestic and international destinations.
These special recovery flights are in response to requests from various organizations, including local and international government agencies.
More special recovery flights are being arranged as required, Isla said.
AirAsia assured that the safety and well-being of guests is the airlines’ top priority, adding that it is compliant with advice and regulations from the local governments, civil aviation authorities, global and local health agencies, including the World Health Organization.
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