More commercial flights to Davao City may be available starting June 29 — Mayor Sara
DAVAO CITY — Mayor Sara Duterte said Thursday that more commercial flights to Davao City from Manila, Iloilo, and Clark might be available starting Monday next week to cater to passengers who want to return home.
Duterte, in an interview over Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR 87.5), said the local government of Davao has already submitted the list of proposed flights to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) for approval after meeting with officials from the Davao International Airport, CAAPDavao, the city government, and executives of the airline firms.
She said the airlines will open the additional flights starting June 29 once the proposal is approved by CAAP within the week.
Of the proposed additional flights, three flights for Manila-Davao-Manila and one each for Davao-Iloilo-Davao and DavaoClark-Davao routes will be made available on different dates, according to Duterte.
She said Cebu Pacific, AirAsia, and Philippine Airlines (PAL) will service the Manila-Davao City-Manila on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, respectively, while PAL will service Davao City-IloiloDavao City and Davao-Clark-Davao on Fridays.
All air passengers arriving at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City can avail of the free and voluntary testing for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) starting June 29.
The free reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing will also be offered to air passengers who arrived in Davao City on June 8, whether they are asymptomatic or experiencing symptoms.
Duterte said the move aims to strengthen the local government’s case-finding efforts for COVID-19.
“We have a budget from our Bayanihan Grant that was passed last April, and we will use it for the voluntary and free testing of passengers who arrived by airplane beginning June 8 until the present,” Duterte said.
The city government has readied around 1,000 RT-PCR testing kits for the free and voluntary testing of passengers.
As of June 24, the Department of HealthDavao listed a total of 488 COVID-19 in the region: 395 in Davao City, 31 in Davao del Norte, 21 in Davao del Sur, 15 in Davao de Oro, 22 in Davao Oriental, and four in Davao Occidental.
Duterte reminded Dabawenyos to keep a safe distance from returning passengers who are on 14-day home quarantine to avoid infection.
“We should expect that there would be more people entering the city because we would increase the number of flights, more than what we had when we started last June 8. Don’t go near them until they complete the quarantine and do not develop symptoms of COVID-19,” she said.
When the domestic commercial flights resumed last June 8, PAL opened the ManilaDavao-Manila on Mondays, Cebu-DavaoCebu on Tuesdays, and Davao-Clark-Davao on Fridays; Cebu Pacific’s Cebu-Davao Cebu on Tuesdays and Manila-Davao Manila on Wednesdays; and AirAsia’s Cebu-DavaoCebu on Thursdays, Manila-Davao-Manila on Fridays, and Clark-Davao-Clark on Saturdays until June 30.
She urged passengers to strictly adhere to the 14-day home quarantine and advised them to directly proceed to Southern Philippines Medical Center for testing once they develop symptoms of the disease.