SWEEPER FLIGHTS. Stranded passengers flock to the Philippine Airlines (PAL) office at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport waiting for the confirmation of their flights. The GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation said on Thursday (March 19, 2020) PAL has flown a sweeper flight to ferry 240 passengers to Manila, while the Philippine Air Force has also flown two rescue or recovery flights. (Photo courtesy of Edward S. Mendez)
CEBU CITY – At least 240 stranded foreigners were flown to Manila from the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) onboard a sweeper flight of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Thursday.
In a statement, the GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC) said PAL took the special flight for the passengers stranded at the airport amid suspension of air travel as part of the efforts to fight the threat of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
The sweeper flight was organized through the effort of the Department of Tourism (DOT) Central Visayas region director Shalimar Tamano, Philippine Air Force (PAF), the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) and GMCAC, the statement said.
The MCIA has been assisting the foreign passengers affected by the government-imposed travel restrictions and cancelations of domestic flights, it said.
“GMCAC and MCIAA thank PAL for mounting the special sweeper flights, and DOT-7 for coordinating with the PAF,” it read.
The airport management commended “all our airport employees and stakeholders who have been relentlessly assisting the foreign passengers.”
Edward Sotto Mendez, Lapu-Lapu city tourism officer, said the passengers on board the “sweeper flight” arrived in Manila safely.
“One of these stranded tourists is Cristobal and his family. They were first-time Spanish travelers to Cebu. They want to experience our culture, heritage and white beaches. I took notice of them because his wife has been crying,” Mendez said.
Mendez said many of the stranded tourists have already run out of money due to high rebooking fees as well as cancellation of their flights.
They were “pleading to us that they will be accommodated in one of the PAF rescue flights or at least assist them to get a seat in one of the sweeper flights,” he added.
“In the last few days, our staff in the Tourism Office together with other government agencies like DOT, MCIAA, GMR, Mayor's Office, Office of the Transport Security and our private stakeholders were on the frontline helping stranded passengers from many provinces in the region,” he said.
In a separate interview, Mendez told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Friday that PAF has been doing “rescue flights” to ferry stranded passengers to Manila.
“So far, PAF was able to do two rescue or recovery flights. The Cebu Pacific is now considering flying a sweeper flight to bring stranded passengers to Manila. But CebuPac will only fly if the passengers have already booked their onward flights out of the Philippines and the needed capacity is reached,” he said. (PNA)
