The country’s major airlines renewed their calls for the government to allow people vaccinated against Covid-19 to travel freely in a bid to kickstart a travel recovery.

Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Air Asia sought the help of Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion in asking the government to discard the multiple requirements for traveling such as the costly RT-PCR test for domestic destinations as well as the long quarantine for arriving passengers from international flights.

The airlines said the strict requirements discourage people from traveling.

“For these airline companies to survive, there has to be sustainable number of passengers especially for the tourism industry,” Concepcion said.

Philippine Airlines president and COO Gilbert Sta Maria said travelers find some requirements “very burdensome, forcing them to put off their travel plans.”

PAL instead proposed a new protocol to reduce risk and cost to passengers of international flights.

Under the proposal, passengers will be tested 72 hours before departure and will undergo quarantine upon arrival and take an RT-PCR test on the third day. If the result is negative, they can go out of the quarantine facility on the 5th day and continue home quarantine.

Based on the data presented, testing before departure helps reduce positivity rate and risk. The proposal is also expected to translate to savings of as much as P25,000 for travelers.

The airlines also asked the IATF to put North America on the list of green countries as this is the biggest market for local airlines.

PAL said it used to earn $1 billion from the North American market before the pandemic.

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Local airlines to gov’t: Ease restrictions to allow Filipinos to travel
Source: Filipino Daily Inquirer