PAL suspends flights to and from London amid new COVID-19 variant in UK

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) announced Wednesday the suspension of its flight going to and from London, United Kingdom in compliance with the government’s order to restrict inbound travel from the UK due to concerns of a new variant of SARS-COV-2.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) issued a resolution suspending flights to and from UK starting December 24, 2020 at 12:01 a.m. until December 31, 2020.

With the latest resolution, the flag carrier said it has decided to suspend its flights to and from London until the end of February 2021.

PAL said before the latest IATF resolution, it has been serving the Manila - London - Manila route once a week.

The airline said passengers of affected flights may rebook on the next available flights with rebooking service fees waived.

Passengers may also refund the cost of their ticket with refunding service fees waived.

A third available option is the conversion of the PAL ticket into a “Travel Voucher” for future use.

"We are monitoring the situation in the UK. As we keep a close watch on this evolving situation, it is in the best interest of all to suspend flights on the route,” PAL said.

“Appropriate announcements will be made as developments unfold,” it said.

PAL said it supports all measures that seeks to curb any potential increase in COVID-19 cases during the holiday season and beyond. -MDM, GMA News