HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — With the recent reopening of the Philippines to international tourists, an official from Philippine Airlines who spoke Wednesday with The Guam Daily Post anticipates a near 90% recovery of passengers in flights systemwide by the end of the year.
“We are now reaching 60-70% load factor right now (as of Wednesday),” said Israel S. Fontanilla, area manager for Philippine Airlines. “Systemwide, we are looking at reaching 86% recovery pre-Covid by the end of the year. Well, it’s increasing now, before we used to fly during pandemic time, we used to fly twice a week then we ramped up three and four times and now we are flying daily.”
Fontanilla credited the lifting of the country’s restrictions to the increased demand that is allowing for the gradual resumption of more flights in and out of the Philippines.
The reopening of borders comes just in time for this holiday season.
As families arrange travel to visit friends and loved ones across the globe, Philippine Airlines is seeing near-normal amounts of air travel from Guam to the country.
“For Guam, we are probably seeing 85-90% pre-pandemic levels,” he said. “Majority of our passengers here are visiting friends and relatives in the Philippines so definitely that market contributes a lot to the tourism industry.”
Fontanilla reiterated that these gains are due to the lifting of travel restrictions imposed during peaks of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
“This upcoming holiday season will be the first Christmas in which there are no restrictions in place,” he said.
Like many other global communities, the Philippines, in recognizing concerns about hospital capacity and local availability of vaccines and other treatments, limited and highly regulated leisure travel into the country.
“So last year during the Christmas season, passengers, whether Filipino or foreign nationals, needed to undergo quarantine before they entered the Philippines,” he said. “But now as long as you’re fully vaccinated or boosted, then you can go straight to enter the Philippines. During the pandemic, every region had their own Covid restrictions but now the majority of them have now opened.”
Fontanilla, who is on Guam for the first time, spent his time holding briefings with colleagues at the Hyatt Regency Guam in Tumon.
“I arrived (Monday) morning and after I arrived, we went straight to meet the different travel agents and visited the Philippine consulate and planned to stay here up to Saturday,” he said. “Well, it’s been long since we have had this type of gathering for the industry, most specifically for our travel agents. We had a product update that we showed them earlier. Basically, to meet the travel agents now that the restrictions are easing (in the Philippines). We realized that it’s the right time to go and visit our industry partners.”
Some of the discussions focused on the decrease of restrictions for travel to the Philippines, but there are still certain procedures that travelers must abide by, depending on point of origin.
“One of the main topics that we discussed earlier is the restriction in the Philippines if you need to be tested or not,” Fontanilla said. “So, we actually have two scenarios we are in: If you are a Philippine national and you are fully vaccinated then there is no need for a Covid-19 test or quarantine in the Philippines. If you’re a foreign national or former Filipino, you need to get boosted to enter the Philippines.”
The border of the Philippines reopened in early October, he said, due to “the increase of the (population’s Covid-19) vaccination status.”
The country is also reporting fewer new infections, Fontanilla noted.
“Covid has been going down. Definitely down from last year, during this time the Philippines recorded 20,000 to 25,000 cases in a day. Right now, definitely less. We are now counting by the weeks, no longer counting daily,” he said.
The carrier’s new campaign is Philippines Airlines Open for You.
“Basically, (the slogan) tells us that the Philippines is now open for tourists and residents,” Fontanilla said. “It’s the right time to go and visit the Philippines. Christmas is the best time to visit family and friends, and I think with less restrictions and being able to go out and about easily. Now it’s the right time to visit the Philippines.”
For his part, Josh Tyquiengco, the public information officer for the Guam Visitors Bureau, told the Post that recovery efforts are in the preliminary planning stages in the current fiscal year. However, he said, “GVB is continuing to work with PAL and other airline partners in the ongoing recovery efforts.”
Israel S. Fontanilla, area manager at Philippine Airlines says air travel is starting to pick back up to pre-Covid-19 levels with the lifting of travel restrictions in the Asian country.