MANILA – Cebu Pacific (CEB) passengers bound for General Santos City must take the free antigen test before boarding, from December 3 to 14 as part of the pilot for the budget carrier's test before boarding (TBB).
The TBB is only offered to passengers flying to destinations that require testing before entry, and Manila is not included in the list, Candice Iyog, vice president for CEB's Marketing and Customer Experience, told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Friday night.
The carrier will pilot test the TBB among passengers from Manila to General Santos.
"We look forward to learning from the results (of this TBB pilot test). We laud GenSan for leading this initiative with us, and we hope this will pave the way for LGUs (local government units) to simplify and standardize travel requirements," she said.
The CEB has partnered with the Philippine Airport Diagnostic Laboratory (PADL) for the antigen testing.
Iyog, however, does not have an estimate of how much the testing would cost after December 14.
"We are working with the PADL to make sure that tests are as affordable as possible," she said.
Meanwhile, passengers have to secure a travel authority and check-in online.
They also have to pre-register at tapat.gensantos.gov.ph/tapatsystem/registration/#details, and fill out the form at padlab.ph/DLS/ePIF at least 24 hours before the flight.
They must proceed to the testing facility located at Level 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3, at least five hours before the flight departure.
The test result will be released within 30 minutes, according to CEB.
Those who will test positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 will be referred to another testing facility for a confirmatory reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
A certificate showing the result of the antigen test will be provided, and those who test negative may proceed to the bag drop counters or the boarding gate until an hour before the flight schedule.
Iyog said the local government of GenSan has reduced the quarantine period for arriving passengers, from 14 days to seven days. (PNA)
