Stranded Filipinos avail of Philippine Airlines special flight on 19 April in Melbourne International Airport. (Photo by Melbourne PCG)

27 May 2020 – Almost 200 Filipinos left Australia today to go home to the Philippines through Philippine Airlines (PAL) special flights. PAL organized two special flights from Sydney and Melbourne today to serve stranded Filipinos. This brings the special flights arranged to bring home Filipinos in Australia to the Philippines to a total of seven (7) flights, since travel restrictions were put in place in late March.

PAL operated three (3) special flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on 19 April and two (2) special flights from Sydney and Melbourne on 29 April. These flights enabled almost 400 Filipinos in Australia to go home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Embassy in cooperation with the Philippine Consulates in Australia and the Philippine Overseas and Labor Office in Canberra continue to facilitate the repatriation of Filipino seafarers. On 21 May, nine (9) seafarers were able to go home from Perth to Manila.

International travel in both the Philippines and Australia remains restricted. The Australian Embassy in Manila and PAL organized the flights from the Philippines that made possible the assisted departures from Australia, enabling Filipinos to return home and be with their families.

The Philippine Embassy understands that there may be many more Filipinos in Australia in need of assistance as we continue to face many challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We advise you to regularly visit the Philippine Embassy website (www.philembassy.org.au) for further advisories as we continue to find ways to assist you in the best way we can. END