PAL Releases Travel Health and Safety Advisory
Philippine Airlines releases 25 February 2020 its latest advisory on health and safety for travel to local and international destinations in cognizance of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) situation.
It reads:
Philippine Airlines always places the highest priority in protecting the health and safety of our passengers and crew, in compliance with strict international public health standards.
We wish to share with you some of the various preventive and precautionary measures that PAL is undertaking to promote safe travel, in the light of the COVID-19 situation:
1. Thorough cleaning of aircraft – We ensure an intensive cleaning process for our aircraft after every flight, including the use of stronger cleaning agents to wipe and clean cabin surfaces such as tray tables, windows and inflight entertainment screens. In the event that we use an aircraft to fly to an identified higher-risk area (e.g., the occasional repatriation flights to mainland China), we employ an even more rigorous cleaning process to ensure that the assigned aircraft is thoroughly disinfected after returning to home base.
2. Refreshing and filtering of cabin air – All our aircraft are equipped with special HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters and air circulation systems that constantly refresh the air on board and have been proven to protectively filter and protect against most coronaviruses. As a result, the cabin air environment is considered safer than other public spaces with no special filtration systems.
3. Screening and thermal scanning of passengers – We actively coordinate with health authorities at the airports we fly in the implementation of pre-departure screening procedures, as well as in the thermal scanning of passengers to screen out those who exhibit symptoms of illness. We have temporarily suspended the issuance of digital boarding passes, so that passengers who check in online receive only confirmation documents and will thus need to secure the final boarding passes at the check-in counters where they may be subjected to further precautionary health screening.
4. Precautions while inflight – Our cabin crew members are authorized to wear face masks on board as added protection. We also provide face masks to passengers upon request. (Please note that supplies of face masks are limited, and we recommend that our passengers bring their own supply if they wish to wear masks on board.) We are also taking other precautionary steps, including the removal of inflight reading material and changes in inflight service on certain flights. Our crew is also trained and equipped with protocols to handle cases of unwell passengers.
5. Continued information campaign at the airports and on board our flights – We continue to circulate information and advice to promote sensible safety practices for our travelers.
6. Cancellation of flights to areas covered by health travel restrictions – We have cancelled all our flights to mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, in compliance with strict travel restrictions impose by the Philippine Government.
7. Coordinated health reporting system – We cooperate fully with a robust system of reporting any medical concerns, including the distribution of health locator forms onboard our flights, in collaboration with concerned health authorities and the Philippine Bureau of Quarantine.
In all cases, we take active guidance from the government authorities and international health experts to ensure that our prevention and mitigation measures are effective.
Rest assured that our top priority is always your safety.
Thank you.
from Philippine Airlines website
