Manila Times-Apr 11
Philippine Airlines (PAL) will suspend flights to and from Kuwait because travel to the gulf state had slowed down since the government banned the deployment of Filipino workers there.
“Philippine Airlines will temporarily suspend its PR668 (Manila to Kuwait) and PR669 (Kuwait to Manila) flights effective May 16, 2018,” PAL said in a statement.
It said it maintained flights to Kuwait despite difficult market conditions “as service to our countrymen working in this Middle Eastern country.”
Since early this year, the flag carrier has repatriated free of charge nearly 900 distressed Filipino workers from Kuwait in response to the call of President Rodrigo Duterte and the Philippine government to assist the OFWs in Kuwait.
“With the repatriation now complete, the ongoing slowdown in OFW travel to Kuwait has made regular operations economically unsustainable, hence the need to suspend these flights to Kuwait until such time that market conditions on the route improve,” PAL said.
The airline will continue to serve Kuwait through its flight operations to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.
Passengers with flights beginning May 16 may refund their tickets or rebook their flights on or before May 16 or reroute their PAL Manila-Kuwait journey to fly on PAL to Abu Dhabi or Dubai or Doha, and then Other Airlines (OAL) for the connecting flight to Kuwait.
The government stopped sending Filipino workers to Kuwait following the death of Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found inside a freezer at an abandoned apartment.
