Japan opens up for PH travels

As countries, economies, and industries, start to recover, Japan is slowly opening up its market for international travel. As General Community Quarantine will be in effect in Metro Manila starting August 19, Japan Airlines (JAL) continues to provide service to passengers that the Philippine government deems as essential trips, catering mainly to business travels and returning residents.

Below are the flights schedules available to the Philippines:

To ensure the health and safety of passengers and guests, Japan Airlines introduced the JAL FlySafe initiative, implementing a series of hygiene and precautionary measures on the ground and in the air, for the safety of its guests.

At the airport, JAL’s staff are wearing face masks behind clear partitions at the counters in Japan. Onboard, cabin attendants also have face masks and gloves on. Non-contact thermal cameras are used to check temperatures of customers. Physical distancing is also practiced to maintain safe distance among travelers while waiting in line to check in and to board.

Hand sanitizers are available at JAL counters and onboard in the lavatories. Hand sanitizing wipes are also provided onboard. High touch surface areas are frequently disinfected, such as the counters at the airport, lounge chairs, inflight entertainment screens, seats, armrests and trays etc. Onboard, passengers will be spaced out as much as possible based on the load factor.

According to the IATA, there is low risk of transmission on board aircraft, but mask-wearing by passengers and crew will further reduce the already low risk. Moreover, JAL’s fleet of jet airplanes are fitted with High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters that are 99.97% effective at removing virus and the air circulation onboard is renewed with fresh air every 2-3 mins. As air in the cabin flows from top to bottom and is fully renewed, passengers can feel assured about the quality of air onboard.

“This pandemic has greatly affected operations in many markets including the Philippines, considering that a large segment of Filipinos who travel to Japan do so for leisure purposes. For the same reason, those passengers traveling to the US and Canada have been affected as well. We are hopeful that [as] we progress to GCQ (General Community Quarantine) and the shifting of other countries to relax quarantine protocols, we can embark on the journey towards recovery,” said Japan Airlines Co. Ltd – Philippines General Manager Chikara Mochihara.

To view Japan Airlines’ full international flight schedule, visit the following links for August and September.