Philippine Airlines to operate Manila-London roundtrip for stranded travellers

Philippine Airlines will fly a single round-trip flight between Manila and London Heathrow on April 4 “in response to an urgent public need amid Covid-19 quarantine situation,” the airline said in a notice posted on its website.

While the airline initially announced that it would pause all remaining international flights from March 26 until April 14 last week, it will now operate this one-off service to the UK to help stranded travelers return home.

The Manila-London Heathrow flight (PR720) will be allowed to carry only UK nationals to comply with “current Covid-related UK immigration restrictions”, the airline said.

The return leg (PR721), on the other hand, will be allowed to carry only Filipinos, their foreign spouse and children, and officials from governments and international organizations.

The service will be operated with an Airbus A350-900, which has seats for 295 passengers.

Hundreds of thousands of British citizens are thought to be struggling to get home from overseas after the UK government advised all British travelers to come home as soon as possible on March 23. Many airlines are operating a small number of flights to help stranded passengers return home after countries around the world closed their borders to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.