Kalibo airport open to limited domestic flights from Metro Manila starting July 1

AKLAN, Philippines – Starting July 1, the Kalibo International Airport will begin accepting limited domestic flights from Metro Manila for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and locally stranded individuals (LSIs).

Operations at the airport were suspended since coronavirus lockdown measures were introduced in mid-March.

Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores issued Executive Order No. 28 on June 26 authorizing Kalibo airport to accept domestic flights for individuals who want to travel to  Aklan after weeks of being stranded in Metro Manila.

“Most parts of the country are now under general community quarantine down to areas classified as low risk and therefore, a safe time to facilitate the return of these locally-stranded individuals, as well as returning overseas Filipinos to the province of Aklan,” Miraflores said in issuing EO 28.

Select airlines were allowed twice-a-week flights to Kalibo starting July 1. The scheduled flights are Friday and Sunday for Philippine Airlines/PAL Express, Tuesday and Thursday for AirAsia Philippines, and Wednesday and Saturday for Cebu Pacific Air.

 

The repatriated OFWs and stranded persons will be thoroughly checked for medical clearance certificate and travel authority from the local Philippine National Police. They must accomplish a health declaration card when they book their flights or during check-in.

EO 28 requires the airlines to submit to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) their passenger manifest with the passengers’ contact numbers and complete address at the point of destination, at least two days before the departure date from Metro Manila.

Failure to accomplish this would be ground for cancelling succeeding flights.

Returning OFWs and LSIs are advised to undergo home or facility quarantine for 14 days and to follow quarantine protocols to prevent the risk of local  transmission. 

From Kalibo airport, the outbound flights will accept OFWs and authorized persons outside of residence who also wish return to Metro Manila.

Aklan’s other airport in Caticlan, Malay, cannot resume commercial flight operations yet.

The resumption of flights to Aklan is in accordance with the omnibus guidelines of te Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) which allows air travel within modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) and general modified quarantine (MCQ).

Kalibo airport has allowed sweeper and cargo flights, and transport of medical supplies and equipment from Cebu, Iloilo and Manila throughout the duration of the imposed community quarantine.

Airport authorities also have put together health and safety protocols to curb the spread of coronavirus which include stringent thermal screening, disinfect airport facilities to ensure the well being of passengers and personnel, wearing of face coverings at all times inside the airport and social distancing. 

Following the successful South Korean model, the Aklan provincial government has been adopting the “trace, test and treat” strategy to tackle the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Aklan only had 10 coronavirus cases as of Friday, June 26, with all patients recovered. The first case was reported on March 27, and no local transmission had been recorded in the barangays to date.

The province has been under modified general community quarantine since June 1, and is expected to be under the “new normal’ by July. 

The province has a molecular diagnostic laboratory equipped with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machine located inside the Aklan provincial hospital compound for faster detection and isolation of probable patients.

The laboratory will be operational in the coming weeks once the Department of Health (DOH) approves its license to operate as a certified testing center.

Three months ago, Aklan province closed the Kalibo and Caticlan airports and enforced port and border controls, and likewise intensified the information dissemination campaigns with social and tri-media platforms in response to threats of pandemic.

The province also strengthened its communication strategies to impart to the people the risk of getting the virus, mobilized the surveillance and contact tracing team with the help of Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERTs) and Municipal Health Office, and imposed strict healthcare measures in public places. – Rappler.com