All flights remain suspended until May 15 — MCIA

MCIA Terminal 2 | Photo courtesy of GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation

CEBU CITY, Philippines — All domestic and international flights of Philippine-based air carriers will remain suspended until May 15, 2020, due to the extended enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) here, the Mactan Cebu International Airport announced.

In a public advisory, MCIA said international airlines have also indefinitely suspended their flights due to the coronavirus threat and the ECQ that is in effect in Cebu and several other areas.

The airport management asks passengers to coordinate with their respective airlines for updates on their travel schedule, rebooking of flights or ticket refunds.

MCIA, however, said the airport the flight suspension will not cover cargo flights going and out of Cebu.

MCIA will remain operational for sweeper flights arranged by foreign embassies for their stranded citizens here and to ensure the unhampered entry and exit of cargo flights.

Malacañang earlier recommended for the extension of the ECQ in ten “high-risk” areas, including Cebu City and Cebu province, until May 15.

READ: ECQ extended till May 15 in Metro, other high-risk areas

On Wednesday, April 29, 2020, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan issued an executive order extending the validity of the city’s ECQ “until further notice.”

READ: Extension of ECQ in Lapu-Lapu City

Lapu-Lapu City, where the airport is located, has 34 cases of COVID-19 as of April 29.

The city, along with the highly urbanized cities of Cebu and Mandaue, are set to begin with the strategic mass testing on Monday, May 4.

READ: Rapid testing in cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Cebu slated to start May 

The local government said the strategized massive testing seeks to balance out economic and public health factors as the tricities eye to shift into a modified community quarantine on May 21 yet. /bmjo