PAL ready to transport COVID-19 vaccines to Cebu, Davao

Aviation Updates Philippines – National flag carrier Philippine Airlines on Monday said it is now ready to fly Sinovac's CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccines to various metropolitan cities in the Philippines, specifically Cebu and Davao, on Tuesday, March 2, 2021.

PAL Spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said 12 boxes or 420 kilos of vaccines will be transported to Cebu via flight PR-1945, while 20 boxes or 700 kilos will be flown to Davao via flight PR-8809 both on Tuesday.

These vaccines were already transported from its storage facility in Marikina to PAL's International Cargo Terminal (ICT) in Pasay City in preparation for the flights the next day.

Upon the arrival of the PAL flights in Cebu and Davao, the vaccines will be loaded into cold-storage vans for distribution to several hospitals and health facilities.

The vaccines, which arrived from Beijing on Sunday, are part of the 600,000-dose donation of China to the Philippines. More vaccines are expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2021, as the government continues its ambitious COVID-19 vaccination campaign nationwide.

PAL and MacroAsia earlier provided ground-handling support for the first bulk shipment of vaccines which arrived on the last day of February. National Task Force Against COVID-19 sought the assistance of PAL for these ground-handling requirements, Villaluna said.

Photo from Cielo Villaluna, Philippine Airlines