The management of Cebu Pacific has announced the cancellation of flights to five major cities in mainland China starting on Sunday, February 2, 2020. | Inquirer File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu Pacific announced on Saturday, February 1, 2020, their decision to cancel all flights that are bound for five major cities in mainland China from February 2 to March 29 amid the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
Flights that will be cancelled starting on Sunday, Feb. 2, are those that are bound for Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Guangzhou, and Shenzen.
“In light of developments related to the Wuhan Coronavirus, Cebu Pacific will be cancelling all flights between the Philippines and mainland China (Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzen) from February 2 to March 29, 2020,” said the airline company’s statement released on Saturday, February 1.
Cebu Pacific currently serves direct flights from Cebu to Shanghai, Shenzen, and Guangzhou.
The country’s largest budget airline also announced that it has reduced the frequency of its flights for Hong Kong and Macau.
“Flights between the Philippines, Hong Kong and Macau, on the other hand, have been reduced,” the statement said.
The statement added that airline management have already started to notify passengers who will be affected by the flight cancellations through the contact details which they provided upon booking.
Passengers are advised to check the status of their scheduled flights through the Manage Booking portal found on the Cebu Pacific website, https://book.cebupacificair.com/Manage/Retrieve/.
The following options are offered to passengers of cancelled flights:
• Rebook the flight (new flight date within 30 days from original travel date)
• Refund the tickets in full
• Store the value of the ticket in a Travel Fund for future use
As of February 1, the number of confirmed cases of the 2019-nCoV which causes the 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV-ARD) already reached 11,374 and has claimed the lives of 259 individuals based on the Wuhan coronavirus online tracker by the John Hopkins University. / dcb