Philippine Airlines (PAL) made two special flights on its Manila-Xiamen route to ferry passengers stranded because of the travel ban imposed on China due to the coronavirus outbreak.

PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said an Airbus A321 left Manila at 7:37 a.m. and arrived in Xiamen at 9:24 a.m. carrying Chinese nationals and tourists who had been unable to return to their country because of the suspension of PAL flights there. The same aircraft left Xiamen at 11:05 a.m. and arrived at 1:20 a.m. carrying Filipinos stranded in China.

PAL said the plane was staffed by all Filipinos cabin crew who volunteered for the service. All of those who volunteered will undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine to ensure that no one contracted the virus.

The flights were arranged due to the increasing demand to resume flights to mainland China. Meanwhile, PAL is studying the possibility of arranging more special flights.

Currently, the travel ban imposed by the Philippine government advised that no Filipino will be allowed to go to mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. DOH added Taiwan in the travel ban starting today.

PAL is consistently reminding its passengers to provide personal contact details, such as mobile phone numbers, residential phone numbers, email addresses, hotel addresses and other contact information when buying tickets. This will be used by airlines and authorities in case there is a need to contact you and inform you of any changes or updates related to your flight.